ODC English Site

Some 100 former residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak community yesterday delivered petitions to 10 embassies and the offices of the World Bank and European Union asking them to pressure the government into increasing the compensation for their evictions. Sam Vanna, a representative of the residents, ...

With ongoing floods causing an unprecedented $521 million in estimated damages, economists warn that poor farmers are being the hardest hit. The latest government estimate marks a roughly threefold increase from an earlier prediction of more than $161 million, which was the cost of the ...

Police said they freed one recruit from a Phnom Penh recruitment agency this weekend and were seeking to prosecute its director, adding that they were doing the same for the director of the SKMM recruitment agency, where 78 recruits were freed last week. The court ...

Residents of two villages in Kandal province say police are threatening to arrest them for filing a complaint about a company they accuse of failing to fully pay them for land allegedly bought from them almost 15 years ago. Kuy Chanthorn, a resident of Kakab village ...

Another chapter in the long-running land dispute between development firm Phanimex Company and the Borei Keila community unfolded yesterday as 70 residents once again called on the district governor and Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene on their behalf. At the heart of the dispute is ...

Heightened global food and fuel prices continued to inflate Cambodia’s market in September, and experts said flood damages would elevate costs further toward the end of the year. Year-on-year inflation hit 6.7 per cent in last month, up 1 per cent from August, according to data ...

The latest United Nations assessment shows that the damage from flooding is far worse than previously thought, according to a report received by the Post late yesterday. Drawing on data from three ministries as well as the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), the assessment raises ...

Thirteen construction workers have filed a complaint against the Banteay Meanchey provincial branch of T&P Co Ltd – the recruitment agency at the center of allegations involving illegal detainment of trainees – officials said yesterday. The workers, who had previously worked illegally as construction workers in ...

Following a dip in 2009, new land disputes increased last year by more than 50 percent to 28, while the total number of ongoing cases is now 282, according to a report released yesterday by the NGO Forum. Culled from media and field reports, each recorded ...

The Minister of Labor yesterday defended his ministry’s much-criticized interpretation of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ban on sending maids to Malaysia, after it allowed about 3,000 young women to still be sent abroad despite the serious risk of abuse and exploitation. Minister of Labor Vong Sauth ...

Ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat has kept a promise to stop his company’s dredging operations on Koh Kong province’s Tatai river, relieved business owners and residents living along the waterway said yesterday. But provincial officials confirmed that as the senator’s dredging boats moved on to ...

Representatives of 32 families living in the capital’s Chamkarmon district staged a protest yesterday in Tonle Bassac commune, pleading with Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene on their behalf against the Thai Bun Roong company, which they say is forcing them to sell their land ...

Scores of crying women who said they had been forcibly detained and girls who claimed to have received fake documents to conceal the fact that they were as young as 16-years-old were discovered at a centre owned by the SKMM Investment Group labour recruitment firm ...

The Kingdom’s cassava exports soared 94 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2011, despite the recent flood devastation the agriculture sector has experienced, according to Ministry of Commerce figures. The statistics showed that Cambodia’s export of dry and fresh cassava hit about 22,652 ...

Cambodia’s banks should be largely spared the heavy damages already seen in many parts of the Kingdom’s economy, officials said yesterday, though microfinance lenders will feel some impact. Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon last week revised downward the government’s gross domestic products for 2011 ...

More than 200 residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak lake gathered outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday as four villagers who filed complaints after their homes were demolished by real estate developer Shukaku Inc last month responded to summonses for questioning ...

China’s dam-building ambitions and alleged lack of transparency were front and centre yesterday during a roundtable discussion on Mekong River development held in the capital. Representatives from the Chinese embassy defended their country’s record, claiming that China was “eager to participate” in regional cooperation mechanisms. “We aren’t ...

Industrial pollution ‘hot-spots’ have been identified in waterways in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kompong Cham provinces following a five-month period of research as part of a UN-backed effort to encourage companies to adopt cleaner practices. The hot spots – defined as a source of pollution where ...

Residents involved in a long-running land dispute in Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district have been prevented from registering to vote in next year’s commune elections, village representatives said yesterday. The village, Oambel, is not recognized by authorities as it forms part of a conservation area ...

Depending on who you believe, the South China Sea could be the next Persian Gulf due to its untapped oil and gas deposits. It’s also a key shipping lane that the US Navy has guarded for decades. That’s why so many countries are sparring over remote ...

Although a Thai minister claimed recently that delays in resolving the disputed overlapping claims area with Cambodia would result in an energy crisis, experts said yesterday the statement had been politically motivated. Thai Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said last week Thailand would run out of gas ...

Despite signs that demand is starting to come back to the real estate sector, an oversupply in the market has kept prices for commercial and residential properties in Phnom Penh flat over the past 12 months, according to data from Bonna Realty Group. Prices for commercial ...

Seventy-one out of 89 National Assembly lawmakers yesterday voted to approve the construction of a coal power plant in Preah Sihanouk province by a company run by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and his daughter, and licensed the plant to sell electricity to Electricite du ...

About 250 villagers who turned out in Preah Vihear province’s Srayong commune to protest against alleged land-grabbing by rubber firm Siladamich Company yesterday found themselves blocked by company security guards and police, though arrests threatened a day earlier failed to materialise, villagers said. Villager representative Meas ...