Cambodia seeing a solar surge as prices drop
Cambodia is lighting up with solar power as international politics gluts the world market with inexpensive equipment options, according to industry insiders. The lowering or complete end of subsidies for US, European and Australian firms, along with China’s backing of the renewable energy sector, has seen ...
Ocean Garment strike to end, workers return
More than 50 police officers exchanged heated words with Ocean Garment strikers yesterday afternoon, marching for over an hour to Phnom Penh Municipal Court in support of five worker representatives suspended by the company. Mid-protest, however, the group of more than 2,500 – who have been ...
Borei Keila protester summonsed to court
A Borei Keila protester received a summons yesterday to come to Phnom Penh Municipal Court to address a complaint of “incitement to commit a crime” filed by Suy Sophan, director of the Phanimex company, which evicted the Borei Keila families in January. Borei Keila resident Tim ...
Construction Projects Surge This Year
Total investment in new construction projects reached $1.53 billion through the first eight months of the year, a 73.96 percent improvement compared to the same period last year, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. Though the number of permits ...
Tobacco lost to smuggling, survey shows
Government data show that significant amounts of tobacco are being smuggled out of the country each year, health and economics experts said yesterday. A national tobacco survey from 2011, the exact numbers of which remain confidential, shows that more tobacco is produced in Cambodia than is ...
Experts say ASEAN connectivity needs private sector involvemnt
While the planned launch of the ASEAN Economic Community is fast approaching, establishing good connectivity between member states to ensure a free flow of goods and services is a real challenge and needs more involvement from the private sector. That was the message delivered by Cambodian Foreign ...
NGOs Discuss Reforms Ahead of Donor Meeting
At a meeting in Phnom enh to prepare for today’s high-level donor Government-Development Partner Coordinating Committee (GDCC) forum, dozens of mostly local NGOs agreed on their own list of broad reform suggestions for the government. But land disputes took center stage. Today’s GDCC meeting, which the ...
More Lao land deals inked
Laos has contracted firms to build and operate another significant hydro-power plant on the Mekong River system, adding to the existing furor over potential effects on downstream countries such as Cambodia from the controversial Xayaburi dam. The contracts, reportedly worth $1 billion, are for a series of three dams making ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102559403/National-news/more-lao-dam-deals-inked.html
Pol Pot-Era Airbase Earmarked as Future Tourist Gateway
Prime Minister Hun Sen said Saturday that in order to manage future tourist numbers, the government will construct a new international airport on the site of the Kampong Chhnang airbase, which was built by slave labor during the Khmer Rouge regime. Mr. Hun Sen said that ...
Anti-corruption bonus yet to be seen
Customs and Excise Department officials are complaining that a promised salary bonus meant to serve as an incentive to avoid corruption has yet to be doled out, even though the program began last June. The initiative, managed by the Ministry of Economics and Finance, was supposed ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011160738/National/anti-corruption-bonus-yet-to-be-seen.html
Stonewalling at Angkor complex’s temple
THIRTY workers involved in the restoration of the Angkor complex’s Ta Prohm temple were barred by their manager from entering the work site yesterday because of their unionism, labour representatives said. The stand-off followed the manager’s announcement that on February 1, he would dismiss the 30 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012560975/National/stonewalling-at-temple.html
Draft Law for Lower Sesan Dam Details Plans for Compensation
A draft law on the financing of a controversial dam project in Stung Treng province obtained yesterday shows that about $38 million will be spent on the resettlement of almost 800 families. This marks a significant decrease from the more than 1,000 families the companies ...
Neighbors Visit Boeng Kak Hunger Strikers at Prey Sar Prison
Residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak community yesterday said they visited four former neighbors now serving jail terms in Prey Sar prison for demonstrating against CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin’s real estate project and urged the women to end their reported hunger strike. A prison official, however, insisted there was ...
Families Claim Officials Extort Fees at Checkpoints
More than 30 families living in Pursat province’s Dangkeab village have filed complaints with their village chief against environmental officials, whom they claim extorted money from them to pass illegal checkpoints as they transported firewood from a nearby forest to the village, authorities said yesterday. “Since ...
Five workers injured as lift plummets from third floor
Five workers riding a lift meant to carry animal carcasses up to the fifth floor of a meat roasting facility were left with serious injuries when their metal cage plummeted from the third floor. The five victims, aged from 25 to 38, suffered broken legs ...
Cambodia inaugurates China-financed new container terminal
Cambodia on Tuesday inaugurated a new container terminal of the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, turning the port as a large hub for logistics supply and goods collection and distribution. The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-01/22/c_132119517.htm
Government Says New Jet Was Leased From Chinese Airline
The Council of Ministers has revealed that its new Airbus A320, meant for shuttling Prime Minister Hun Sen and a select few others around the world, is being leased from China Southern Airlines but refrained from disclosing how much the deal was worth. Last month, CPP ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-says-new-jet-was-leased-from-chinese-airline-12328/
Hun Sen Asks Asean to Protect Migrant Workers
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday repeated a call for Asean countries to put a stop to the exploitation of migrant workers and urged the acceleration of efforts to provide protection for such workers. At the Asean Summit last month, Mr. Hun Sen said that protecting the ...
Ministry Bans US-Backed Radio Broadcasts for Election Weekend
The Ministry of information ordered local radio stations not to transmit programs from U.S.-backed broadcasters over the election weekend, an official said. Voice of America (VOA), the U.S. government’s official broadcaster overseas, and Radio Free Asia (RFA), a station funded in part by the U.S. government, ...
New home not where the heart is for Xayaburi locals
For the past several days, Boonma and seven other Houay Souy villagers have travelled back to their homes near the Xayaburi Dam building site on the Lao side of the Mekong River. Since the beginning of the year they have been relocated to a new ...