The Phnom Penh Post
EDC promises more power
The recent power shortages have left residents of Phnom Penh out in the heat and dark, but amidst their mounting frustration, state-owned energy supplier Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) has announced it will be purchasing more power from Thailand to address the shortfall. Keo Rattanak, director-general of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032964781/National/edc-promises-more-power.html
Tuk-Tuk Maker Eyes Cambodian Market
Japan-based Terra Motors Corporation viewed Cambodia as a potential market for its electric tuk-tuk, the company’s general manager of overseas sales said yesterday. “We’re thinking of entering the Cambodian market as well. But at this moment, there are no concrete plans. [We] just hope to enter,” ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032964775/Business/tuk-tuk-maker-eyes-cambodian-market.html
Aero Aiming To Open Up Kingdom
Local private airline Aero Cambodia intends to launch domestic chartered flights by the end of this year once it receives approval from the government. The airline is preparing to apply for its air operator certificate from the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) and hopes to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032964777/Business/aero-aiming-to-open-up-kingdom.html
Striving to make finance accessible
Access to finance could reduce violence, empower the most vulnerable in society and improve the livelihoods of Cambodia’s poorest people, a conference on community-led funding heard on Wednesday. Sarah Sitts, country manager of the international NGO Pact, introduced the funding model of savings-led micro-finance (SLMF). In ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032964776/Business/striving-to-make-finance-accessible.html
Kratie cut to shreds
‘I heard a f—ing crazy dog say that we can’t dock in Kampong Saom, but we definitely can do that,” a crackling voice declares boisterously. The speaker, captured in video obtained by the Post, is part of an illegal timber syndicate. The identity of the speaker ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032964752/National/kratie-cut-to-shreds.html
Malaysia’s Felda mulls local crops
Malaysia-based agricultural and commodities company Felda Global Ventures Holdings is considering investing in palm oil, sugar and rubber crops in Cambodia. Felda Global head of corporate communications Izan Hussain said yesterday the company had received numerous business proposals, but had not made any decisions. “Our discussions and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032964774/Business/malaysia-s-felda-mulls-local-crops.html
Japanese grants set to aid local farmers
The Japanese government has provided $118,996 for constructing a cassava propagation and distribution centre in Battambang province. The fund comes in response to the recent challenges facing farmers in the province who are facing a shortage of cassava trees to plant. Kumamaru Yuji, Japanese ambassador to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032864733/Business/japanese-grants-set-to-aid-local-farmers.html
Tax revenue sees a 27 per cent jump
The Kingdom’s tax revenue increased 27.85 per cent in the first two months compared to a year earlier, a figure the opposition party said is low due to corruption and tax cheats. According to the data from the General Department of Taxation (GDT), total tax revenue ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032864735/Business/tax-revenue-sees-a-27-per-cent-jump.html
Organic vegetable demand growing
On a farm in Kampong Speu province, Erm Rim is talking to a small crowd of consumers and journalists, explaining the process of growing vegetables using only natural resources. Rim talks on the sidelines of a consumer field trip organised by the Cambodian Center for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764708/Inside-Business/organic-vegetable-demand-growing.html
Boeung Kak activist to seek bail
A bail hearing for imprisoned Boeung Kak lake land activist Yorm Bopha, 29, will be held this morning at the Supreme Court, her husband, Lous Sakhorn, said yesterday. Bopha was arrested on September 4 last year and charged with intentional violence over the assault ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764717/National/boeung-kak-activist-to-seek-bail.html
New land titles not recognised: villagers
Ten families locked in a long-standing land dispute with the Pheapimex Group in Pursat provinces’s Krakor district said yesterday that the company was refusing to recognise titles recently granted to them and blocking them from the land.“We 10 families have been given more than 30 ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764723/National/new-land-titles-not-recognised-villagers.html
Cambodian Vtrust plans CSX floating
Local real estate company Vtrust Property Group plans to engage an underwriter in as little as two years to help it list on the Cambodia Stock Exchange, the company’s chairman, Kuy Vat, said yesterday. The company is now preparing the necessary documents on its business, corporate ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764710/Business/cambodian-vtrust-plans-csx-floating.html
Thai Co-Op Seeks To Boost Cambodia’s Market Access
A delegation from a Thai agricultural co-operative yesterday discussed means of improving agricultural products and market access with representatives of the Ministry of Commerce in Phnom Penh. Kamit Likhitvidhayavuth of the Thai co-operative said his team aimed to strengthen market access for Cambodian goods. No agreement ...
Illegal migration ticking up
llegall migration is on the rise, but human trafficking cases appear to be declining, according to the government’s annual labor migration report, released yesterday. Speaking at the start of a three-day workshop held at the Ministry of Interior that involving embassies, NGOs and government officials, Chou ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764724/National/illegal-migration-ticking-up.html
Blackouts tell tale of two cities
It is barely dawn in the quiet suburb of Phnom Penh Thmey, but already the silence has been pierced by the cacophony of generators. On some streets, nearly every household has one of the machines burning through diesel in a bid to fill their basic electricity ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764725/National/blackouts-tell-tale-of-two-cities.html
Construction begins at bloody eviction site
More than four years after the violent forced eviction of about 800 families from Dey Krahorm in the capital’s high-rent Tonle Bassac commune, small-scale construction is finally beginning on the site. In the past month, the skeletons of a future barbecue restaurant and a beer garden ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764726/National/construction-begins-at-bloody-eviction-site.html
Grasslands present dilemma
A week after British researchers released a study warning that the nation’s grasslands would soon be lost if drastic action was not taken to protect them, some agricultural experts have called for moderation, noting that the intensive rice cultivation blamed for the grasslands’ destruction is ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664676/National/grasslands-present-dilemma.html
Ministry pushes for safer use of industrial chemicals
The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) and the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) yesterday discussed means of safely stocking industrial chemicals, with the hope of reducing environmental pollution in the region. At a conference on sustainable manufacturing practices, Sok Narin, the head of UNIDO ...
Harta Packaging bets on Cambodian growth
Malaysia-based Harta Packaging Industries Sdn Bhd opened a new Cambodian factory to meet the demands of a growing exports sector and benefit from Sihanoukville port’s ambitious expansion plans, officials said. Harta Packaging, a wholly owned subsidiary of HPI Resources Berhad and part of the Oji Paper ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664690/Business/harta-packaging-bets-on-cambodian-growth.html
Rubber to give economy a bounce
Cambodian officials say they will focus on nine different sectors in a bid to diversify and ensure continued national economic growth. Among the nine priorities, rubber will play a crucial role in Cambodia’s trade integration strategy. After opening a workshop on Cambodia’s trade strategy for the coming ...
Rubber firm is felling state forest: villagers
Villagers who confiscated land-clearing equipment during a forest patrol yesterday in Khsuem commune in Kratie province’s Snuol district are claiming the equipment belongs to a rubber concessionaire attempting to expand into state land, an allegation local authorities denied. Villager representative Mom Sokkin said the Binh ...
Evictees back on land
Dozens of families at Borei Keila have moved back on to land they were evicted from last year, despite intimidation and threats of arrest by security forces employed by developer Phan Imex. Earlier this month, security guards tore down the shelters of 12 families who had ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664678/National/evictees-back-on-land.html
Largesse and threats ahead of election
Prime Minister Hun Sen warned thousands of villagers yesterday that his most popular initiatives, including his far-reaching land-titling scheme, will simply disappear if he is not re-elected in July’s national election – amid suggestions his campaigning has unofficially begun. In a marked shift from his apparent ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664688/National/largesse-and-threats-ahead-of-election.html
Ethnic Jarai villagers defend claim at court
Jarai ethnic minority villagers appeared at Ratanakkiri provincial court yesterday, demanding compensation from a Vietnamese company they say illegally cleared 30 hectares of community land in November last year. Chea Chanrith was granted a licence from the Ministry of Agriculture last year to clear land ...