The Phnom Penh Post
Minister asks Tai Yang to reinstate 37 strikers
The Minister of Social Affairs has sent a letter to the management of the Tai Yang and Camwell garment factories, suppliers to Levi’s and Gap, requesting it reinstate 37 workers involved in a strike that has dragged on for almost two months. “In order to ensure ...
Drought hits rice exports
Rice exports this year had been flat compared to last year because of the many challenges growers were facing, insiders said this week. The data shows exports were no better than last year for the same period, as exports for the first eight months of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082158176/Business/drought-hits-rice-exports.html
Drought continues to hurt rice farmers
Farmers in provinces across the Kingdom are feeling the effects of drought after a month of dry weather in which an estimated 10,000 hectares of rice seedlings were destroyed and 135,000 hectares left at risk, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. A report from ...
Strikers claim sexual harassment
Thousands of angry garment factory workers, en route yesterday to the Ministry of Social Affairs in a protest over alleged sexual harassment, were stopped in their tracks by about 100 armed police and ordered back to the workplace. More than 2,500 workers from Phnom Penh’s Ocean ...
Acleda to sell vehicle tax stamps
Cambodia’s government yesterday announced it had chosen the largest local bank, Acleda Bank Plc, to be its partner for vehicle tax stamp sales. Acleda will operate for the General Department of Taxation of the Ministry of Economy and Finance in all 23 provinces and Phnom Penh. Sim Eang, royal ...
Toll may lose rail rights
A company with ties to one of China’s top state-owned firms will look to push Toll Royal Railways and its local partner Royal Group of Companies out of a 30-year railroad concession with pledge to invest nearly US$850 million to revamp existing lines and build an additional ...
Former anti-drug czar’s appeal begins
Disgraced anti-drug czar Moek Dara’s appeal against his life sentence for convictions in 25 separate cases of bribery and masterminding a criminal enterprise began yesterday morning in Phnom Penh. Co-accused, former Ministry of Interior anti-drug police department chief Chea Leng also appeared at the Court of ...
Land row trial delayed
Four villagers accused of masterminding the theft and intentional damage of property belonging to Cheat Aphiwat Co Ltd in a land dispute will have another month to prepare for trial after right groups Adhoc garnered them a delay yesterday. A village chief and three other villagers ...
Prey Lang patrol hands evidence to authorities
Authorities in Kampong Thom province have made good on their promise to examine evidence of illegal logging unearthed by community investigators in the greater Prey Lang area, summoning seven representatives yesterday to present their findings. The Prey Lang Community Network representatives were summoned to Sandan district ...
Software licenses debated
Open source software is an important way forward and a useful impetus for development in Cambodia, according to attendees of the Kingdom’s first software conference this weekend. The conference, which centred on TYPO3, an open source content management system (CMS), was held this past weekend ...
Mobile phone subscribers increase
The number of mobile subscribers (SIM cards sold) increased 25.28 per cent during the first half of the year as a result of an expansion in the telecommunications market, according to officials. Mobile phone service subscribers increased by 3,963,734 or 25.28 per cent to 19,642,563 compared ...
Pricey petrol punishes poor
Petrol prices have jumped by 150 riel (US$0.03) a litre, much to the dismay of Cambodia’s poor, as NGOs appealed to the government to take action. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), issued a letter dated August 16 appealing to Prime Minister Hun ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082058157/Business/pricey-petrol-punishes-poor.html
Project aims to build latrines in rural areas
A new US$10.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will fund a three-year project by international development NGO East Meets West (EMW) to improve sanitation and hygiene among the poor in rural Cambodia and Vietnam. According to EMW, the program seeks to combat the negative effects of ...
Borei Keila evictees given hope
Borei Keila families have slept under staircases near piles of rubbish since they were forced from their homes on January 3, but they are hopeful of compensation following an unexpected visit from city officials last week. Representative Chum Ngan, 39, said village, commune and Phnom Penh ...
Cambodia gains 53 factories this year
The Cambodian government has approved 53 new garment and footwear factories, worth an estimated US$338 million, during the first half of this year, compared with 38 last year valued at $180 million, despite the increase in the number of strikes affecting the industry. Officials and industry ...
Islands up for grabs
More than 180,000 hectares on 28 of Cambodia’s 64 islands were reclassified as state private property for 31 companies seeking land concessions between 2008 and 2010, government sub-decrees reveal. The reclassification sub-decrees, compiled by investigators at the rights group Adhoc, pave the way for firms to ...
Aviation revenue released, no clear figures
Aviation revenues have been released by government officials who were hesitant to reveal details but said yesterday the figures had increased by about three per cent. Mao Havannal, secretary of state for the Civil Aviation Secretariat, said after yesterday’s opening of a seminar on aviation insurance that ...
Opposition urges China checks
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called investors from China’s Anhui province to invest in numerous sectors across Cambodia in an effort to spur two-way trade between the Kingdom and China in order accomplish their joint target of US$5 billion in trade by 2015. Meanwhile, Cambodia’s opposition party ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012081758136/Business/opposition-urges-china-checks.html
Forest patrol preps evidence
Villagers who have spent recent days patrolling Prey Lang forest would file a complaint to the prime minister alleging government officials and private companies are clearing parts of the forest, a spokesman said yesterday. The 70-strong citizen patrol team who scoured the forest this week ...
Xayaburi construction forging ahead
Construction of the main structure of the supposedly on-hold Xayaburi dam could begin by the end of this year, the Thai company contracted to build it said yesterday. Ch Karnchang chief executive Plew Trivisvavet said preparatory work at the site of the proposed US$3.8 billion, 1,285-megawatt ...
Forest battle rages on
After a brief détente, a fight over the Prey Trolach community forest in Battambang province that has its citizen guardians and the Forestry Administration pitted against the military is back on, those working to protect the area from illegal logging said yesterday. Since it was deemed ...
Second international machinery fair opens this weekend
The second Cambodia International Machinery Industry Fair 2012 (CIMIF 2012) will kick off this weekend from at the Diamond Island Convention Center in an effort to promote the industry development and foreign investment in Cambodia. It will run for four days from tomorrow to August ...
Preah Vihear to get new border crossing
The Cambodian government is seeking a new international border checkpoint in Preah Vihear province to link with Thailand’s Ubun province, officials say. Preah Vihear provincial governor Um Mara said officials from both countries had met to examine the possibility of opening a new international checkpoint. There ...
Crackdown yields major timber haul
Authorities in Stung Treng province have confiscated some 651 pieces of “luxury timber” from three communes in Se San district over the past week in an ongoing operation to crack down on illegal logging in the area, police said. The goods were confiscated just as a ...