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Cambodia eyes solar future for rural power
Cambodian officials yesterday touted the potential for green energy to meet its goal of bringing electricity to 100 percent of households by 2020. The Kingdom was looking to develop solar energy, small-scale hydropower and biomass-fuelled power to meet the target, said Ministry of Industry, Mines and ...
Environment Minister Defends Concessions
Environment Minister Mok Mareth yesterday defended the recent surge of economic land concessions granted by his ministry inside the country’s enviornmental conservation areas, saying that they would do more to help the areas than hurt them. Mr Mareth’s comments came while responding to questions at ...
Planned Multimillion-Dollar Sugar Plantation Suspended
Mong Reththy Group has suspended a $115 million sugar plantation project that has been three years in the works, CPP Senator Mong Reththy said yesterday. According to Mr Reththy, the suspension is due to “internal” issues facing the French partner in the project, Groupe Sucres ...
CPP Senator’s Sugar Plantation Land Dispute Case Goes to Trial
Describing a 5,000-hectare land dispute between Koh Kong villagers and a sugar company owned by CPP Senator Ly Yong Pgat as “a complicated case,” Koh Kong Provincial Court has decided to try it before a three-judge panel, a lawyer for the villagers said yesterday. The ...
Inside look at ‘fainting’ factory
After a three-day standstill at a Puma supplier, shoemakers returned this morning to the factory floors in Phnom Penh where 49 workers reportedly fell ill Monday morning. Huey Chuen factory Assistant General Manager Zhang Hanchang – who led reporters from The Post through the empty factory ...
Fears over island fish stocks
Villagers on Koh Kyong island in Preah Sihanouk province are preparing a complaint over more than 300 allegedly unlicensed fishermen who they say are illegally operating in local waters. Loung Bunny, chief of the Association for Natural Protection in Ochroy commune, said yesterday that fishermen from ...
Armed police crack down on protest
Three women were slightly injured while participating in a strike of about 500 workers outside the Zongtex Garment Factory in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district yesterday, a union representative said yesterday. Suos Sokha, head of the Rights and Profit Workers Federation of Trade Unions, said yesterday the ...
(By Tep Nimol, pg. 6)
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011072850683/National-news/armed-police-crack-down-on-protest.html
North Koreans talk rice
North Korea aims to import rice from Cambodia, as well as explore for mineral resources, officials said yesterday. High-ranking officials from Pyongyang met with their Cambodian counterparts in Phnom Penh yesterday, signing agreements on economic and trade cooperation.The two countries had signed seven cooperation agreements beginning ...
(By Vong Sohkeng, pg. 7)
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011072850685/Business/north-koreans-talk-rice.html
Mekong Dam Construction Halted, Laos Says
Construction of the 1,260 megawatt Xayaburi dam on the Mekong river has been suspended after a meeting between the USA, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. A report from the Mekong River Commission (MRC) has been leaked showing that construction was begun on the dam without ...
Angkor protestors slighted
Angkor Beer drivers forced their way through a blockade formed by beer promoters protesting the company’s failure to respect them and follow an Arbitration Council ruling that they should be paid $2 more on the weekends. 200 protestors had planned to attend but only 30 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011072650621/National-news/angkor-protesters-slighted.html
Rubber plantation protest in fourth day
In Svay Rieng province villagers are in their fourth day of protests after authorities refused to meet with them to discuss a land concession that Metapheap Company has received in order to open a rubber plantation. The company was granted a 1,230 hectare land concession ...
June Textiles Agrees to Compensate Workers
June Textiles Factory has agreed to compensate more than 4,000 workers who have lost their jobs when the factory burned down after months of protests and arbitration hearings. The announcement came from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia that the workers would be receiving the ...
Beer girls brew Angkor strike
60 some Angkor beer promoters are going to hold a strike outside of the company’s Phnom Penh offices in order to draw attention to the labor violations and discrimination they’ve suffered. The strike is planned to be loud and colorful according to Cham Rong, the ...
Clinton calls for pause on dams
Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, has called for a “pause” on construction of hydroelectric dams along the Mekong River. She is urging time and consideration for all who would be affected by the dams, with 11 planned for the Lower Mekong, nine of which ...
June Textile to pay workers
June Textile Factory will compensation the more than 4,000 workers in accordance with an Arbitration Council ruling, granting the workers severance pay after the Phnom Penh factory burned down. According to Albert Teoh, administration director of June Textile Factory, all workers would receive the full ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011072550603/National-news/june-textile-to-pay-workers.html
Block A oil partner inks finance deal
Chevron partner KrisEnergy Holding Company has secured $115 million for its projects in the offshore petroleum area known as Block A . Block A is leased by Chevron Overseas Petroleum Cambodia Limited with 30 percent interest, KrisEnergy Holding Company with 25 percent, Mitsui Oil Exploration ...
Mass Faintings Continue at Two Factories
Workers at two different factories in Phnom Penh suffered mass fainting spells yesterday according to the Ministry of Labor and the factory officials. A Puma owned shoe factory 49 workers fainted and at the Hung Way garment factory another 64 workers fainted. The Puma factory ...
Mekong Dredging Blamed for Riverbank Collapse, Lost Land
Dredging in Kompong Cham province along the Mekong river is being cited as the cause for the collapse of the river bank and the force behind more than a dozen families having to leave their homes. An area of approximately 20 meters y 200 meters ...
Angkor Beer Promoters Protest for More Overtime Pay
Angkor Beer promoters held a protest outside of Cambrew Ltd in Phnom Penh in order to receive more overtime pay on the weekends, following an Arbitration Council order that the company pay each employee $2 more and Angkor Beer’s failure to do so. The 30 ...
Villagers Seek Premier’s Intervention for Land Titles
Villagers from Battambang province have submitted petitions to Prime Minister Hun Sen asking that land management officials grant them the titles to the land they claim to have lived and worked on for 30 years. Apparently they were previously granted the right to construct homes ...
Villagers Struggle in Face of Chinese Tourism Project
Villagers along the Koh Kong province’s coastline have been relocated by a Chinese development company as they have not been granted access to their farm land which falls within the development area and are running short of food. 20 tons of rice have been delivered ...
Concessions Affect 3,000 Families, Adhoc Says
According to human rights group Adhoc, five agro-farming concessions granted to Chinese firms are adversely affecting 3,000 families in Preah Vihear province. The concessions have come with warnings of possible land disputes and potential protests. Prime Minister Hun Sen granted the economic land concessions to ...
Police Prove Mass Fainting at Phnom Penh Garment Factory
70 workers at the Hung Wah Cambodia Garment Mfg. factory have fainted bringing the number of mass fainting in factories over the last year to nine. It is a well known phenomenon in Cambodia with three major spells so far this year. “Excessive hours of ...
Supertex workers in new strike
Textile workers at the Supertex factory are considering holding another strike because their compensation demands have not been met during an Arbitration Council hearing. Previously Supertex announced it was closing its factory without having given prior notice, prompting the 1,600 works to seek arbitration. With ...