News
British companies eye on Cambodia on education, construction and finance services
Considering the growth potential of US$400-million worth in bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Cambodia for the past five years, the British Trade and Investment office plans to establish its permanent branch in Phnom Penh. British companies are eyeing investment opportunities in education, construction and ...
Appeal Begins in Cambodia-Related Fraud Case
An appeal hearing in South Korea involving the CEOs behind two major property projects in Cambodia involved in a massive fraud scandal is scheduled to begin today, an official at the court in Seoul said. In February, a Seoul court sentenced a raft of executives of ...
Strikers told they have it good
About 4,000 workers from two garment factories protested in Phnom Penh yesterday for better working conditions – but bosses told them their 7.5 hour working days and free meals meant they had it pretty good. The workers from SL Garment Processing (Cambodia)’s SL1 and SL2 factories ...
Cambodia Home to Frenchman in Bo Xilai Drama
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Throughout the drama this spring revolving around the dismissal of the ambitious Chinese official Bo Xilai and the investigation of his wife as a murder suspect, the most mysterious figure has been a French architect named Patrick Henri Devillers. When Mr. Bo ...
Q1 exports to Thailand soar
Cambodia’s exports to Thailand jumped 55 per cent year on year in the first quarter of 2012 on what experts and officials said was a smoother political relationship between the countries, as well as an easing of Thai border regulations. The Kingdom shipped US$85.4 million in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051656176/Business/q1-exports-to-thailand-soar.html
Future of Gold Tower 42 in Arbitration Court
The owner of the $240 million Gold Tower 42 project in Phnom Penh has entered into arbitration with the project’s builder, in a bid to get work started again after construction halted on the project in September 2010 due to poor unit sales and cost ...
Hun Sen Points To Economic Benefit of Beer
Prime Minister Hun Sen encouraged the public to help the country by drinking beer during the inauguration of the new $60 million Khmer Brewery factory in Phnom Penh yesterday. “Don’t forget, [if you] drink one bottle or one can of beer, how much will the state ...
Fire Insurance Costs Soar for Garment Sector
Large payouts last year by local insurance companies to two garment factory owners and regional natural catastrophes have resulted in a huge hike in the cost of fire insurance for commercial premises in Cambodia, brokers said. Cambodia’s insurance industry paid out some $24 million in fire ...
Cambodian PM opens 60 mln USD brewery plant, urges production for exports
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday inaugurated a 60 million U.S. dollar Khmer Brewery plant on the outskirts of Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district, urging the country’s beer manufacturers to produce for exports. ...
Garment workers will return, still seek resolution
More than 800 workers from Su Tong Fang factory in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district will end their two-week protest and return to work on Thursday after reaching an agreement with their bosses, their union representative said yesterday. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051456148/National-news/mixed-fortunes-for-strikers.html
Questions Over Missing 10 Hectares of Lake
In order to pacify concerns that filling in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake would lead to flooding, it was claimed by officials that 10 hectares of the 90-hectare lake would be preserved to absorb heavy rainfall. Now, four years after sand began streaming into Boeng Kak, ...
Tobacco Harvest Hurt by Rains, Fewer Farmers
Rainfall during this year’s dry season and fewer farmers cultivating tobacco has resulted in a shortage of raw tobacco and a steep price increase, industry officials and farmers said yesterday. Tola Ponlu, head of corporate and regulatory affairs at British American Tobacco (BAT) in Phnom Penh, ...
Exports to Korea jump 80pc
Cambodia’s first-quarter exports to South Korea soared nearly 80 per cent year-on-year, driven mostly by garments and agriculture products, but imports still accounted for most of the trade between the two countries. Total exports to South Korea jumped to US$30 million for the first three months of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051056080/Business/exports-to-korea-jump-80pc.html
Property Prices See First Rise Since 2009
Property prices in Phnom Penh are rising for the first time since 2009, growing by as much as 10 percent in some areas of the capital during the first quarter of the year, real estate experts said yesterday. After years of stagnation in the property sector ...
Government Announces Anti-Graft Price Lists
Eight months after the anti-graft provisions of the Anti-Corruption Law came into effect, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) announced yesterday that it would start a widespread campaign to introduce standardized fees for government services in every commune office—though it will likely be months before any visible steps are taken. More than 2,000 ...
Thai jobs serve as siren song
Every day they come in the thousands and crowd under a blazing sun for hours, awaiting a moment that costs them more than two full months’ salary – a passport. And where are they going? “Thailand,” 21-year-old Sem Pheaktra said, squinting under a harsh mid-morning sun. He, and ...
Evictees Petition UN Rights Envoy for Homes
Displaced villagers from two Phnom Penh neighborhoods on Wednesday submitted a petition to the UN’s human rights envoy, who is in Cambodia on a routine fact-finding mission. The envoy, Surya Subedi, was visiting the Phnom Penh eviction site of Borei Keila ...
http://www.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/Evictees-Petition-UN-Rights-Envoy-for-Homes-150802365.html
Thailand Says Border Logging Could Hurt Relations
The Thai Foreign Ministry has called on the Cambodian government to admit that its citizens are illegally logging for rosewood on Thai territory, The Bangkok Post reported yesterday. Cambodia should admit to the situation to preserve healthy bilateral relations between Phnom Penh and Bangkok, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said ...
Little spark for electric motos
Battery-powered scooters are capturing an increasing share of the Asia Pacific’s two-wheeled transport market, according to a recent study, but scooter retailers in Phnom Penh yesterday said Cambodians still opt for the petrol-burning version. By 2018, about 65.5 million electric scooters worth some US$382 million will ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050756009/Business/little-spark-for-electric-motos.html
Tourism Industry's Growth Offers Job Creation For Local Labor Force
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia is trying to boost the tourism industry after its contribution to economic growth and offering job creation as ASEAN economic integration 2015 is moving and the free flow of workforce mobilization has been needed to help ensure steady growth. Cambodia’s tourism sector, in 2011, offered 350,000 direct jobs and millions of ...
Protesters pushed back from World Bank Office
In what is becoming an increasingly popular – and coordinated – protest tactic among Phnom Penh’s dispossessed, several women took off their shirts and bras during a demonstration over land rights that briefly turned violent near the World Bank yesterday. About 100 protesters, most of them ...
Khy Sovuthy
Study to determine cost to finish railway
With funds almost exhausted on the $140 million rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railway network, the government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have decided to conduct a study to determine how much more money is needed to complete the project, a government consultant said yesterday. Paul Power, ...
UN seeks full inquiry into Cambodian activist's death
The United Nations human rights office called on Cambodia on Tuesday to carry out a full investigation into the killing of an anti-logging activist and to ensure the safety of witnesses to the crime in which a policeman was also shot dead. Chut Wutty, director of ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/cambodia-un-activist-idUSL5E8G131820120501
City's public transport may take 10 years to materialize
A public transportation system for Phnom Penh is still years from becoming a reality, according to a presentation during a meeting on urban transit on Friday at City Hall, but the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will begin a survey at the end of May ...