Economy and commerce
Investment
Rail freight services begin
Railway freight services between Phnom Penh and Touk Meas commune, in Kampot province’s Banteay Meas district, the location of a Siam Cement factory about 40 kilometres north of Kampot town, began yesterday, finally putting the Toll Royal Railways concession on an earning basis. According to Toll Royal Railways ...
UN: invest in women
Cambodia needed to invest in women to aid its development and integration into the ASEAN economic community, United Nations Under Secretary-General Noeleen Heyzer said yesterday. Heyzer, executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific(ESCAP), met with Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082358228/Business/un-invest-in-cambodian-women.html
Japanese Bank to Sign Agreement With Acleda
One of the largest banks in Japan, Sumimoto Mitsui Banking Co., will sign an agreement with Acleda Bank Friday to share market data and banking services, Acleda announced yesterday. The deal would allow Sumimoto Mitsui, which currently only has a representative branch in Cambodia, to access ...
Firms Go to Arbitration Over Failed Gold Mining License Deal
Despite touting its Cambodian venture on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE), a British registered mining firm’s plan to extract gold in Ratanakkiri province stalled and the firm may face legal action over a failed deal to obtain an exploration license. Astra Resources Plc. has also gone ...
Railway Family Payouts Could Be Increased
The government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will start drafting a new resettlement plan this month that could improve the compensation on offer for some of the roughly 200 Phnom Penh families losing their homes because of rehabilitation of the country’s railway network in ...
Bank Would Back Firm to Take Over Rail Project
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has so far contributed $84 million toward the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network, said yesterday it would support a deal to drop the current railway operator if it means the new concessionaire would foot the $60 to $100 million needed ...
IFC seeks more Australian partnerships in emerging markets
INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the Washington-based World Bank, has invested $US805 million ($770m) in Australian projects around the world These projects are in 24 countries and in sectors ranging from financial services to infrastructure. IFC is an investor in three Macquarie Group-sponsored infrastructure ...
Chinese state firm in talks to take over rail project
With renovation work on the country’s dilapidated railway at a standstill, the Ministry of Public Works has entered into talks with a regional consortium backed by one of the largest firms in China to replace the railway’s current operator, officials said yesterday. Faced with a ...
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 ...
Families Told to Prepare to Vacate Land Needed for Railway Station
Government officials met with more than 200 Phnom Penh families on Friday to lay out the state’s case for ownership of their land and the compensation they can expect when they are evicted from their homes situated along the city’s railway tracks. The $142 million project ...
Firm says gold deposit discovered in Mondolkiri
Renaissance Minerals announced Friday it has discovered a high-grade gold deposit in an area in Mondolkiri province that lies within the Australian firm’s Cambodian Gold Project. The new find is located about 500 meters to the northeast of the company’s Okvau exploration zone. The announcement comes ...
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
A Year on, No Sign of Donor Forum Meeting
Exactly one year after the Finance Ministry indefinitely postponed its last top-level meeting with the international aid donors, there is still no sign that the government is ready to set a new date to engage face-to-face with the country’s development partners. The forum is held once ...
Cambodian state-owned telecom firm sees 5% revenue drop in H1
The state-owned Telecom Cambodia reported a 5 percent decline in revenues in the first half of this year due to tough competition in the country’s telecommunication industry, company director general Lao Saroeun said Friday. During the January-June period this year, the firm earned a gross revenue ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2012-08/17/c_131792460.htm
For Agricultural Investors, an Abundance of Risks
As wealthy Gulf states look to meet their food needs by investing in agriculture projects abroad, Cambodia-with its underutilized land and attractive foreign investment policies-makes a nearly perfect investment destination. But endemic corruption, land conflicts, a badly implemented economic land concession program, and an unreliable judiciary could ...
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 ...
Monitors Question Casino Building New Election Body Office
Election monitoring groups are questioning the National Election Committee (NEC) recent decision to let a Phnom Penh casino fund its new multi-million dollar headquarters, a move they said would cast further doubt on the body’s independence. NagaCorp, the owner of Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, NagaWorld, ...
NagaWorld Profits Jump in First Half of 2012
Net profits at NagaCorp Ltd., owners of Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, jumped 38 percent to reach $52.4 million in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period last year, the company said in its most recent financial report. The casino generated a total ...
Approved investment drops
Latest figures show the total value of approved investment in the Kingdom declined by more than 70 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the equivalent period a year before. Economists and officials are unconcerned, however, saying that some big projects during ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012081457967/Business/big-dip-in-approved-investments.html
Public, Private Sector Air Concerns on Growth
A lack of economic diversity, faith in the banking sector and slow growth in vocational training and education topped the list of concerns among economists and investors yesterday at a meeting organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government. According to data released ...
NagaCorp to Construct New Election Committee Building
Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, NagaWorld, has agreed to build a brand-new 15-story tower for the National Election Committee (NEC) as part of its plans to invest $369 million in expanding its current operations over the next three years, an official at the casino said ...
India Funds Three-Nation Road
$500-million loan from New Delhi to help build 3,200km highway through Myanmar and linking to Thailand The trilateral highway project will allow freight and container trucks to move across the borders from India to Myanmar and Thailand via Chiang Rai and border towns. It will play ...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/India-funds-three-nation-road-30188145.html
Eating locally
The Cambodian governemnt is lobbying the tourism sector to focus more on using local foods, which it says could generate millions of dollars in revenue a year. But hotels and restaurants say quality standards and supplies of local products are often not adequate and businesses ...
Huge Chinese property project announced
Chinese firm Hainan Ruijin Investment Holding Company (HRIH) has announced an ambitious, US$5.8 billion property project including holiday resorts and high-rise apartments outside of Sihanoukville. Plans for the development, which has been dubbed Sihanoukville-Hainan City, have been approved by the Cambodian government. Further details, such as the ...