Government Suspends Logging in Stung Treng Dam Concession
The government has ordered Ang & Associates Lawyer Co. Ltd., a company headed by well-known businessman Kith Meng, to cease logging in an area of Stung Treng province where a hydropower dam will be built. Sesan district governor Yeang Srey Sary said Thursday that a delegation of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, led by Secretary of State Ty Sokun, held a meeting with provincial authorities to announce that logging is suspended until the boundaries of the proposed dam reservoir have been properly demarcated. “The suspension is effectively implemented from today onwards,” Ms. Srey Sary said, adding that the decision was due to reports of illegal logging outside the company’s concession. “There are reports from local communities and authorities about the illegal logging but we don’t have any clear reports on how extensive the logging is inside and outside the reservoir area,” she said. … The concession is a joint venture between Mr. Meng’s Royal Group and China’s Hydrolancang International Energy Co. Ltd. The clearing of the dam concession area, according to documents dated January 2013, and obtained by The Cambodia Daily, the clearing of trees in the dam reservoir was to be contracted out by Mr. Meng’s Ang & Associates to Sok Vanna—who is the brother of local conglomerate Sokimex Group founder Sok Kong. According to a Council of Ministers document dated October 16 and obtained Thursday, the new Agriculture Minister Ouk Rabun—previously a secretary of state at the Finance Ministry—requested on October 11 for “the suspension of Ang & Associates Co. Ltd. from collecting products…of the forest within the reservoir for the planned Lower Sesan 2 dam.” The request was endorsed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on October 12, the document states. … Siek Mekong, chief of Srekor commune, where the dam concession is located, applauded the suspension, and said it was better late than never. “The decision to suspend the logging is a bit late since a lot of big, luxury wood trees are gone and only a few are left, but it’s still not too late for our forest to survive,” Mr. Mekong said. …
Kuch Naren and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-suspends-logging-in-stung-treng-dam-concession-45878/
