News

The number of people arrested over land disputes jumped 144 percent from a year earlier to 232 in 2012, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc) said Thursday. Speaking at a news conference, he [Adhoc president Thun Saray] said Adhoc last year received 70 ...

Nean Narin, a humble man and father of three children, says his family is going hungry. Narin lives in the village of Boeung Kak, situated on the edge of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. For years, he and other villagers relied on the Boeung Kak Lake ...

Ethnic minority villagers expecting to be displaced by a proposed Chinese-built hydroelectric dam in northeastern Cambodia are asking the country’s parliament not to approve a law providing financial guarantees for the project. Villagers living along three rivers that will be affected by the dam spoke ...

Civil society groups urged the National Assembly Thursday to delay the adoption of a bill on the construction of a $780 million dam on the Sesan River in northeast Cambodia. Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum, told a news conference that estimates of ...

More than 300 activists from Kampong Thom province’s Prey Lang Community Network were stopped by district police yesterday as they were marching from the Vietnamese-owned CRCK Company to deliver a lawsuit in Sandan district calling for the postponement of alleged forest clearing and the “invasion” ...

Ecotourism sites in the northeast of Cambodia last year saw visitor growth of 9.7 per cent – a total of 53,374 tourists – compared with 2011, an official said yesterday during the first Workshop on Northeast Ecotourism Development, organised by the Ministry of Tourism. Tith Chantha, ...

Thai-based movie theatre company Major Cineplex said it will build “a high-end lifestyle and entertainment complex” at the Aeon mall in Phnom Penh, hoping to capture Cambodia’s youth market in what it believes is a stable business environment for its entertainment products. While it sees prospects in ...

Almost 85,000 visitors traveled to Kampot over the first three days of the Lunar New Year. The 84,917 visitors included 1,252 foreigners with the Bokor Mountain resort alone attracting 67,548 visitors including 1,004 foreigners, [a tourism official] said. ...

The number of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Siem Reap’s ancient Angkor Wat temple and the Kingdom’s coastal areas increased sharply during this year’s three-day Lunar New Year. Data from the Siem Reap provincial tourism department show that 52,909 tourists visited Siem Reap during Lunar ...

Energy Minister Suy Sem yesterday defended a draft law on the financing of a massive dam project in Stung Treng province which is slated for debate at the National Assembly on Friday. Environmental groups have called debate of the law premature, as no consultation with local ...

More than 200 employees of Telecom Cambodia demonstrated yesterday morning, demanding the company’s general director step down and that the Anti-Corruption Unit investigate the company. The strikers claimed general director Lao Saroeun had been involved in large-scale embezzlement, other forms of corruption and disrespect ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy on Thursday launched a four year project, aiming at promoting the development of biomass-fueled renewable energy generation technologies in industrial sector, officials said. The 5.6 million US dollar project will provide technical and partial financial support for the ...

The Ministry of Agriculture will request that Prime Minister Hun Sen from now on revoke all economic land concessions (ELC) whose owners are found guilty of illegal logging or other major forestry crimes, a ministry official said yesterday. ...

The price of land along four major boulevards in Phnom Penh climbed by 16 per cent in early 2013, according to real estate experts, compared to the same period in 2012. VMC Real Estate chairman Dith Channa said land prices increase because the quality of ...

The Kandal Provincial Court issued an injunction yesterday against Yung Wah Industrial Co. Ltd., preventing the company from selling assets at its two garment factories in Takhmao City where thousands of workers have been protesting the past two days over unpaid wages. ...

As the cashew-harvesting season in Cambodia’s northeastern provinces begins, farmers are expecting a good crop due to favorable weather conditions last year, an official said yesterday. ...

Workers from at least six more factories in Bavet town’s Manhattan and Tay Seng Special Economic Zones joined about 5,000 workers who had been on strike since yesterday for a minimum wage increase and better working conditions. Va Sarorn, director of the Svay Rieng ...

The remote district of Rovieng was once a battleground between Cambodian government troops and Pol Pot’s genocidal Khmer Rouge. Unexploded bombs still lurk in its fields and forests. So does something more desirable – iron ore – and supposedly in such huge quantities two Chinese companies ...

Private residential property in Cambodia is being seen by some investors as relatively cheap, with potential for attractive returns. Industry players believe these factors are the main draw for foreign buyers, looking to grow their money in Cambodia. Keuk Narin, vice president of Asia Real Estate Cambodia ...

Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ trademark) will make a monetary contribution to the authorized capital of a private company Belarus-Mekong that is being set up in Cambodia. Upon the suggestion of the Industry Ministry of Belarus, the Belarusian company will transfer 32 million Cambodian riels (about ...

The Ministry of Agriculture will ask Prime Minister Hun Sen to cancel a 4,900-hectare economic land concession belonging to a Vietnamese rubber company in Ratanakkiri province on the grounds that the firm has been illegally logging on a large scale, officials said yesterday. According to ...

More than 60 families living in Preah Vihear province filed a complaint with rights group Ahdoc yesterday after officials announced that their land had been set aside for a new airport and would not be measured for private land titles, local officials said. Adhoc Preah ...

Thousands of employees of two Singaporean-owned Yung Wah Industrial (Cambodia) Co.Ltd. factories, which produce shirts for Gap Inc. among other international brands, went on strike yesterday in Kandal province, claiming that they were not paid their salaries for last month. “Normally, salaries are paid between the ...

Asia Forestry Management, an integrated plantation-management company with a focus on cultivating Aquilaria crassna, aims to become Thailand’s biggest producer of oud oil this year and Southeast Asia’s in five years. The company’s plant in Trat province will be expanded to produce 280 kilograms of ...