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Senator Offers Cash Compensation to Evictees
CPP Senator and business tycoon Ly Yong Phat last week continued to offer families in Koh Kong province cash compensation to get them to drop out of a lawsuit against two sugar cane plantations he once owned, according to villagers. But villager Phann Khly yesterday ...
Cambodian legislators, officials talk to enhance migrant worker rights
Approximately 150 parliamentarians, government officials, recruitment agency representatives, trade unions leaders, and development partners gathered here on Monday to discuss ways and measures to promote and protect the rights of Cambodian migrant workers. Speaking at the opening of the parliamentary forum on the promotion and protection ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-11/12/c_131967978.htm
Controversial Pöyry tapped for Xayaburi
Multinational consulting and engineering firm Pöyry has signed a contract with the Lao government to supervise construction of the divisive Xayaburi hydropower dam in the country’s north, it announced Friday. This work, carried out by its Energy Business Group, will include reviewing the design and ...
Benefits from ‘black gold’- Revenue from Cambodian oil fields could provide a big boost to development, if it’s done right
If Cambodia’s oil and gas sector is well managed, and transparent, it could provide the country a golden opportunity for investment, development and poverty reduction, said independent economist Chan Sophal, who spoke at a recent gathering looking at the economies of oil-producing countries. Chan Sophal said ...
Vietnam asks Laos to review impacts of hydropower dam
Viet Nam has urged Laos to continue its research on the environmental impacts of the planned Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi made the statement at a regular press briefing in Ha Noi yesterday when answering a question ...
Chinese Company Behind Stung Treng Dam
A Chinese hydropower company, identified as Consultant CECCI, along with Royal Group and Vietnamese power giant Electricity Vietnam International (EVNI), will be in charge of the Lower Sesan 2 dam construction project in Stung Treng province, as well as the relocation of the 5,000 affected ...
Anti-Eviction Protesters Camp at US Embassy for Second Day
Anti-eviction protesters set up camp in front of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh for a second day yesterday, but ended their protest in the early evening when a petition to U.S. President Barack Obama was taken into the diplomatic mission by an embassy guard. “The ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protesters-camp-at-us-embassy-for-second-day-5358/
Destroyed houses spark debate in Kampot
A company owned by a board member of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce has been accused of illegally destroying more than 80 houses in Kampot province’s Chhouk district, a claim vigorously denied by the firm and local authorities. Chan Pheng, a villager from Chi Bak village ...
Tax revenue up from 2011
Cambodia collected $633 million in taxes over the first 10 months of this year, a 31 per cent rise from $483 million over the same period last year, according to the General Department of Taxation. However, an opposition watchdog claimed the amount is still far ...
Review of Land Concessions Foiled by Rain, Leeches
Six months after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a moratorium on the granting of economic land concessions (ELCs) and a legal review of the concessions that already exist, the Agriculture Ministry has yet to begin the review process due to rain, and the danger of ...
$11 million for new serviced apartments
Approximately $11 million will be invested in the 14-storey Silvertown Serviced Apartments in BKK1, according to the president of agents Knight Frank last week. Sunny YL Soo, the managing director of Knight Frank in Cambodia, said that the demand for leased apartments in Cambodia is rising ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/Real-Estate/11-million-for-new-serviced-apartments.html
Anti-Eviction Protesters Appeal to Obama
As Barack Obama was declared president of the United States for a second term yesterday, about 50 anti-eviction protesters for the Boeng Kak and Borei Keila communities camped out in front of the U.S. Embassy and appealed for the president’s help in addressing land rights ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-eviction-protesters-appeal-to-obama-5315/
Despite Environmental Concerns, Xayaburi Breaks Ground
Lao officials and executives of a Thai construction company conducted a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday in Xayaburi to inaugurate the first dam to be built on the lower mainstream Mekong, putting to one side concerns that the dam could devastate fisheries in Cambodia and Vietnam. Prior to ...
Eight-year investment in Cambodia's airports
Almost $400 million will be invested in Cambodia’s airports over the next eight years, the trade magazine Airport World has reported. The investment will fund the extension to the international terminal at Phnom Penh’s airport, the upgrading of Siem Reap’s airport and improvements to the Sihanoukville ...
Australia Drops Cambodian Bribery Allegations
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have closed an investigation into suspicious payments to officials in Cambodia by the world’s largest mining company BHP Billiton, according to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Although the report, released last month, does not ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/australia-drops-cambodian-bribery-allegations-5337/
Cambodian Appeals Court Upholds Detention of Land Activists
Two land activists from forced evictions in Phnom Penh will not be released on bail as they await trial on incitement charges widely seen as an attack on free speech. The two women, Yorm Bopha and Tim Sak Mony, were arrested in early September and accused ...
Construction of Lower Sesan Dam in Stung Treng to Start in 2014
Construction of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Stung Treng province will begin in 2014 and the government will spend next year relocating some 5,000 people from villages that are located in the dam’s future reservoir area. Located near the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok ...
Refined sugar for domestic market
Phnom Penh Sugar will begin producing white sugar this month for the Cambodian market to reduce the demand for imported sugar, according to a spokeswoman for the firm. Chheang Kemsoun, a representative of Phnom Penh Sugar, told the Post yesterday the company would produce white sugar ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110759620/Business/refined-sugar-for-domestic-market.html
Lao, Cambodian families pay for summit luxuries
As Asian and European leaders gather for high level meetings this month in Cambodia and Laos, the luxury living quarters and extensive security arrangements made for their arrivals have come at considerable human and environmental expense. Government authorities went on a building spree ahead of this ...
As Climate Changes, Farmers Need More Help
The government is not doing enough to help farmers weather the destructive effects of drought and flooding brought on by climate change, leaving NGOs to provide aid and emergency relief in cases of natural disaster, agriculture industry leaders said at a forum yesterday. ...
Laos holds "groundbreaking" ceremony for contentious Mekong dam
Laos held a “groundbreaking” ceremony on Wednesday for a $3.5 billion hydropower dam on the Mekong River that is opposed by environmentalists and some neighbouring countries because of the possible impact on livelihoods, fisheries and agriculture. But it was unclear when actual construction of the contentious ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/laos-dam-idUSL3E8M77GG20121107
Illegal loggers, trafficker return
Fourteen Cambodian men jailed in Thailand for drug trafficking or illegal logging have been released in the past week after reaching the end of their sentences, a border official said yesterday. Touch Ra, director of the Chaom Sangam Cambodia-Thailand border checkpoint in Oddar Meanchey province, said ...
A factory’s fainting crisis
In a single factory that supplies some of the biggest international brands, faintings occurred every day for five years, a new investigation by the Cambodian Legal Education Centre has found. Until just weeks ago, when the management installed new fans, three to four garments workers were ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110759624/National-news/a-factorys-fainting-crisis.html
Families complain to volunteers
Twelve families from Koh Kong province on Nov. 6 filed a complaint with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers and the Department of Land Management, requesting assistance in a land dispute with businessman, Heng Huy. Pok Yon, the families’ representative, said that earlier this year, Heng ...