The Phnom Penh Post
Another power deal for senator
The opposition has raised conflict-of-interest concerns over another agreement headed to the National Assembly today guaranteeing the government will buy electricity from a power plant to be constructed by a company owned by ruling party Senator Lao Meng Khin. However, it was unclear yesterday whether the ...
Plan for EU-ASEAN summit
Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh on Wednesday, in a meeting with the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, called on delegates to host an EU-ASEAN business summit next year, according to Eurocham members who were present. The summit is expected to focus on enhancing business strategies ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101452125/Business/plan-for-eu-asean-summit.html
A threat to Kingdom’s FDI
Tokyo: Cambodia needs more than an estimated US$13 billion in infrastructure works by 2020 if the country intends to continue attracting foreign investment, a joint survey by some of the world’s top financial institutions indicated on Wednesday. During a conference held by the Japan International Cooperation Agency ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101452126/Business/a-threat-to-kingdoms-fdi.html
Factory bows but strike continues
Workers striking for a second day at a garment factory in suburban Phnom Penh succeeded yesterday in having one of their eight demands met, as Taiwanese-owned Meroson Cambodia Co Ltd agreed to reinstate three employees allegedly fired for joining a union, a union official said ...
Recruiting firm told to close
The Ministry of Labour has been ordered to permanently close the labour recruitment firm T&P following the discovery of more under-age trainees in its Kampong Chhnang centre. The move marks the first time the ministry has shut a labour reruitment firm, and follows intense criticism of ...
Mfone CEO to resign, company says still open to merger talks
MFONE CEO Yap Wai Khee will resign at the end of the month, officials said yesterday, fuelling questions about the future of the company. Yap Wai Khee, who held the position for about a year, will leave for family-related reasons, according to Atip Rittaporn, managing director ...
Strikers used as ‘slave labour’
About 500 of the 600 garment makers at Meroson Cambodia Co Ltd went on strike yesterday, accusing the Taiwanese-owned firm which exports T-shirts to North America of using them as “slave labour” Chey Sovan, vice-president of the Cambodian National Confederation for Labourers’ Protection, said that the main reason ...
Firms question SECC prakas
The Kingdom’s securities firms have raised concerns about an impending regulation that they said may stunt growth in the country’s fledgling financial markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia is considering a regulation, or prakas, that will require all market participants to maintain a certain ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101352105/Business/firms-question-secc-prakas.html
FDI soars 250% over last year
Foreign direct investment in the Kingdom soared 250 per cent year-on-year through August even despite the West’s economic woes, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said yesterday. A total of 87 projects worth US$5.6 billion were approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia during the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101352107/Business/fdi-soars-250-over-last-year.html
Floods force GDP revision
Cambodia has lowered its economic growth projection from 7 to 6 per cent for 2011 after more than a month of flood devastation in the Kingdom and continued economic turmoil in the United States and Europe, Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon said yesterday. The full impact ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101252083/Business/floods-force-gdp-revision.html
Rare giant ibis loses habitat
The latest in a series of land concessions granted in protected forests has cut nearly 10,000 hectares from Cambodia’s largest wildlife sanctuary – home to the Kingdom’s critically endangered national bird, the Giant Ibis. A September 7 sub-decree, released on Monday evening, reclassified 9,237 hectares of ...
Mass strike ended by Arbitration Council
MORE than 4,000 workers ended a four-day strike outside the M&V factory in Kampong Chhnang province yesterday after the Arbitration Council intervened, issuing an order for them to return to work. The workers, led by the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of ...
CSX trading postponed again until next year
Trading on the Cambodia Securities Exchange will be delayed once again until the beginning of 2012, Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon said yesterday. He blamed an incomplete regulatory regime and the public’s lack of confidence in the stock market as reasons for the delay, ...
Hotel dispute headed for Siem Reap court
UNION officials fired another volley in their battle against a hotel yesterday by announcing that they would file a complaint today with a Siem Reap court, as their protests continued to draw unwanted attention to the tourist town. The Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers Federation complaint ...
Skirmish as factory strike continues
MORE than 4,000 workers at M&V Manufacturing International’s garment factory in Kampong Chhnang province continued to strike for a fourth day yesterday, as a union president urged Prime Minister Hun Sen to force the company to reinstate 20 fired workers. Free Trade Union president Chea Mony ...
Flood costs to surpass $100m
PERSISTENT flooding in several areas of the Kingdom could result in more than US$100 million worth of damage, the National Committee for Disaster Management said yesterday. Flood waters have killed 207 people since early September and forced more than 32,000 families from their homes, according to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101152037/Business/flood-costs-to-surpass-100mn.html
CamGSM deal nixed by Telkom
A TelekomunikasiI Indonesia official said yesterday the company had cancelled plans to acquire a majority stake in Cambodian mobile operator CamGSM, just a month after officials at CamGSM parent Royal Group claimed a deal was imminent. Telkom finance director Sudiro Asno made the statement in Jakarta, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100651980/Business/camgsm-deal-nixed-by-telkom.html
Financial planning: Vietnamese bank targets rural clients
SACOMBANK yesterday announced the launch of its new subsidiary, the 100 per cent foreign-owned Sacombank Cambodia Plc, which is set to target the Kingdom’s rural population. The Vietnamese commercial bank plans to open branches throughout the country’s provinces to provide banking services to a larger cross-section ...
Investment on the rise nationwide
The dollar figure on government-approved investments in construction for the first eight months of the year increased by 92 per cent compared to the same period in 2010, according to official statistics. The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction approved 1,470 construction projects worth ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100651979/Business/investment-on-the-rise-nationwide.html
Luxury hotel ‘breaking law’
The Angkor Village Hotel and Resort is breaking the law by refusing to reinstate 67 sacked workers that the Arbitration Council ruled were unlawfully dismissed, Siem Reap’s deputy governor claimed yesterday. After attending a protest of hotel workers and supporters outside the hotel in Siem Reap ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100651991/National-news/luxury-hotel-breaking-law.html
Polluters told to pay out
Government officials yesterday pointed to developing countries as the main culprits behind climate change and claimed such nations should provide the majority of finan-cing for protecting the Kingdom from the issue. “We are a victim of the problems of the rich,” Environment Minister Mok Mareth said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100651994/National-news/polluters-told-to-pay-out.html
Floods extend dengue season
Recent flooding has extended the dengue fever season this year, the National Dengue Control Program said on Tuesday. Officials added that more than 12,000 people, primarily children, had been hospitalised so far this year with the mosquito-borne infection. Dr Ngan Chantha, head of the NDCP, said “12,392 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100651987/National-news/floods-extend-dengue-season.html
Mine concession sale planned in Ratanakkiri
Astra Resources, parent company of Australia’s Astra Mining, will finalise within two months the acquisition of a 222-square-kilometre gold concession in Cambodia’s Ratanakkiri province, the company announced yesterday. Astra, which listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange September 30, is aiming for large and speedy gold production ...
Phnom Penh Port shipments increase
Freight shipments through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port saw year-on-year growth of 30 per cent in the first nine months of the year, according to official PPAP figures. The total number of twenty-foot equivalent units that passed through the port hit 60,810 between January and August, up from ...