News
ANZ needs to step up its risk assessment: Oxfam
ANZ’s financing of ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation has come under fire once again, this time in an investigation by NGO Oxfam into Australia’s big four banks and their links to rights abuses in developing countries. In a report titled “Banking on ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/anz-needs-step-its-risk-assessment-oxfam
Families demand more dam compensation
Representatives of more than 250 ethnic Lao families in Stung Treng province, near the border with Laos, met under a mango tree Monday and decided to reject a compensation package offered by the developer of the Lower Sesan II dam. In January, the government approved a ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-demand-more-dam-compensation-56034/
Railway audit finds poor maintenance of tracks
Toll Royal Railway, the private operator of Cambodia’s train service, has no system in place to regularly inspect the state of its tracks, and lacks qualified inspectors to check either tracks or bridges, according to a recent safety audit of the firm’s Phnom Penh operations. The ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/railway-audit-finds-poor-maintenance-of-tracks-55756/
Royal Group affirms its commitment to ANZ
Local conglomerate Royal Group said Tuesday that while it is committed to its partnership with Australia-based ANZ bank, it would entertain selling its stake in ANZ Royal Bank for “a very high offer.” “The Royal Group would like to clarify that it is a strong and ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/royal-group-affirms-its-commitment-to-anz-54904/
ANZ keen to exit Cambodia bank stake
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, the country’s third-biggest lender, is keen to exit its holding in Cambodia and will look at wholly owned business models wherever regulations allow. “We got out of a relationship, a small relationship, in Vietnam. We would like to ...
The Business Times News Staff
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/breaking-news/asia/anz-keen-exit-cambodia-bank-stake-20140325
Burger King chain to expand
Burger King will launch another three restaurants in Cambodia by the end of the year, according to a company official, in a move that will bolster the fast food chain’s share of a market dominated by KFC. Somach Sovary, support manager for Burger King Cambodia, said ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/burger-king-chain-expand
Royal Group denies report that Cellcard seeks investor
Royal Group executives, owners of Cambodia’s leading mobile phone operator Cellcard, vigorously denied the veracity of a London-based media report on Friday that claimed the phone company is looking for investors and wants to sell off its telecommunications towers because it is unable to raise ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/royal-group-denies-report-that-cellcard-seeks-investor-53741/
Cellcard advert questioned
The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) is calling out telecommunications firm Mobitel over a TV ad that shows a young Cambodian man who is shocked and dismayed when he meets, on a blind date, what appears to be a transgender woman. Lasting about 60 seconds, ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cellcard-advert-questioned
Kanharith reiterates no TV Station for broadcaster Sonando
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith on Wednesday revealed plans to split state-run TVK into three separate television stations but reiterated that no frequencies are available for independent radio broadcaster Mom Sonando. Mr. Sonando, who owns Beehive radio station, has over the past several years repeatedly requested a ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kanharith-reiterates-no-tv-station-for-broadcaster-sonando-53279/
China's Huaneng takes majority stake in Se San River II hydro project, Cambodia
China Huaneng Group has successfully completed the acquisition of a majority 51% stake in Cambodia Se San River II Hydropower Co., Ltd. The acquisition was completed last month in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. ...
Water Power and Dam Construction News Staff
http://www.waterpowermagazine.com/news/newschinas-huaneng-takes-majority-stake-in-se-san-river-ii-hydro-project-cambodia-4183165
Waiting for the deluge
The Lower Sesan II dam project is a microcosm of the carving up of Cambodia. In one of the world’s most diverse river ecosystems, the ground burns. Whole forests are felled with scant regard for the law, while the project is backed by the country’s ...
Daniel Pye and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/waiting-deluge
Villagers want compensation for Lower Sesan 2 Dam construction
A group of eight villagers from Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri provinces facing displacement by the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam lodged a petition Thursday with the Chinese Embassy and three ministries demanding that the developer negotiate with them. “The affected families have never been ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-want-compensation-for-lower-sesan-2-dam-construction-52244/
Villagers in limbo as dam starts
Construction at the controversial Lower Sesan II dam site in Stung Treng province has already begun, according to villagers, who will today petition several ministries, the Chinese embassy and the headquarters of the Royal Group to open negotiations with them. According to the villagers, who travelled ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-limbo-dam-starts
One airline is enough: report
Cambodia’s aviation sector doesn’t need a second domestic carrier, according to a new report from the Australia-based Centre for Aviation (CAPA). The report, published yesterday, is the latest instalment in a two-part analysis of the country’s aviation industry, and focuses on Cambodia Airlines, the Royal Group ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/one-airline-enough-report
Sesan Dam Construction to Start Next Month
Construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam will begin early next month, residents and authorities said after a meeting in Stung Treng province on Monday. Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem for the first time gave a time frame for the construction of the dam ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sesan-dam-construction-to-start-next-month-51080/
Royal Group Says Cambodia Air Still on Track
Local conglomerate Royal Group has denied that its join venture with Philippine Airlines (PAL) to create Cambodia’s second national carrier has stalled, despite recent remarks by PAL’s president that his company has delayed its investment due to the current political tension here. On Thursday, PAL’s president ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/royal-group-says-cambodia-air-still-on-track-51082/
ANZ sugar fallout broadens
Shareholders will want answers from ANZ bank after it was revealed this week that the banking giant’s joint venture in Cambodia financed ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation, the Responsible Investment Association Australia (RIAA) said yesterday. Environmental audit documents obtained by the Post on Tuesday ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/anz-sugar-fallout-broadens
Royal Group makes deal during PM’s official visit
A Royal Group subsidiary has signed a deal with two Vietnamese firms to import fertiliser, a senior official with the company said yesterday. Among several deals agreed to during Prime Minister Hun Sen’s trip to Vietnam this weekend, Nitrogen Chemicals and Fertilizer Cambodia Ltd, the subsidiary ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/royal-group-makes-deal-during-pm%E2%80%99s-official-visit
Despite Ban, Operators Offer Bonuses
Two of the country’s largest mobile phone operators are again offering attractive deals on calls, despite the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia’s (TRC) recent order to mobile operators to follow the government’s minimum prices for calls and to scale back customer promotions. On Sunday, Smart, which is ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-ban-operators-offer-bonuses-49483/
Villagers Ask Chinese Embassy to Intervene Against Dam Investors
Communities threatened by the planned construction of three hydropower dams in Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri provinces will today submit to the Chinese Embassy a petition demanding that the embassy intervene against Chinese companies investing in the dams. The petition, to be presented in Chinese, Khmer and ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-ask-chinese-embassy-to-intervene-against-dam-investors-49144/
Smart Mobile Sees 36% Revenue Growth
Malaysian telecommunications company Axiata Group Berhad reported Wednesday that its Cambodian brand Smart has seen strong growth in the first nine months of the year, with revenue increasing by 36 percent compared with the same period last year. In its third quarter financial report, Axiata said ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/smart-mobile-sees-36-revenue-growth-48215/
Answers demanded on dam site
A month after a company owned by tycoon Kith Meng was ordered to suspend logging the reservoir area of the controversial Lower Sesan II dam, the government yesterday threatened legal action against it if its orders aren’t followed. In a letter obtained by the Post yesterday, the Council ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/answers-demanded-dam-site
MobiTel Named in Leaked Australian Phone Tap Document
When one of Australia’s top intelligence agencies in 2009 presented staff with a slideshow detailing their attempts to intercept mobile telephone calls by Indonesia’s president, first lady and top officials, it also revealed other possible spying targets—including one of Cambodia’s largest mobile operators, MobiTel, according ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mobitel-named-in-leaked-australian-phone-tap-documents-47672/
Official DisputesWhen Dam Clearing Ceased
A Stung Treng province district official on Sunday contradicted claims that logging in the area designated for the Sesan 2 dam had ceased a month ago, saying that it had only stopped last week after direct orders from the government to do so. On Thursday, Ministry ...
Chhorn Chansy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-disputeswhen-dam-clearing-ceased-46002/