News
Follow-up IPOs still on track
Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, one of two state-owned companies slated to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange this year, yesterday called the price decline in the country’s first publicly traded company worrisome. The eight-day slide in price that neared Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s initial public offering ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956046/Business/follow-up-ipos-still-on-track.html
Northeast new focus for tourism
The Ministry of Tourism will shift its focus to ecotourism development in the Kingdom’s northeast after efforts to promote travel to Cambodia’s coastline proved successful. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956045/Business/northeast-new-focus-for-tourism.html
Four Political Parties Agree to Disclose Campaign Finances
Representatives from four political parties yesterday signed a campaign finance voluntary disclosure pact, promising transparency in how their election funds are spent and identifying the sources of their funding. The disclosure agreement was reached by the SRP, Human Rights Party (HRP), Funcinpec and Movement for Democracy in the absence of ...
Borei Keila evictees look to UN’s Subedi
Borei Keila evictees who have spent months sleeping under staircases and near rubbish dumps delivered a petition to UN Special Rapporteur Suya Subedi yesterday as their quest to be housed again at Borei Keila continued. ...
Cambodian education investor explains his turn to real estate
Chea Sokheng, general director of Arizon Group Ltd, a potential investor in Cambodia’s education and real estate sectors, said that investment in education is a main contributor to developing human resources and growth of the national economy. Though he mentioned the opportunity to invest in the ...
Poipet project: Gaming firm starts build on slot hall
Entertainment Gaming Asia Inc, which today will launch its Dreamworld Casino in Pailin, also will break ground on a slot hall project in Poipet, near the Thai border, on Thursday, according to a company statement. ...
Government silent on ELCs
Ministry officials were silent yesterday on how exactly they planned to implement Prime Minister Hun Sen’s suspension of any new economic land concession grants and review of existing ELCs. Provincial authorities involved in granting the now-suspended land concessions yesterday said they were ready to implement ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956051/National-news/government-silent-on-elcs.html
Factory name change fires up workers
More than 5,000 workers went on strike in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district yesterday after discovering the owners had changed the name of their factory almost two years ago, a union representative said. Concerned that the name change from Tai Yeng to Tai Nan in 2010 ...
Government Announces Anti-Graft Price Lists
Eight months after the anti-graft provisions of the Anti-Corruption Law came into effect, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) announced yesterday that it would start a widespread campaign to introduce standardized fees for government services in every commune office—though it will likely be months before any visible steps are taken. More than 2,000 ...
Leader lost, but activists fight on
An estimated 600 people will travel to parts of the Cardamom Mountains in Koh Kong province to investigate illegal logging and commemorate the death of slain environment activist Chut Wutty tomorrow. Communities from eight provinces that have been affected by deforestation will travel to Koh Kong ...
Thai jobs serve as siren song
Every day they come in the thousands and crowd under a blazing sun for hours, awaiting a moment that costs them more than two full months’ salary – a passport. And where are they going? “Thailand,” 21-year-old Sem Pheaktra said, squinting under a harsh mid-morning sun. He, and ...
Memorial to Be Held in Koh Kong for Slain Forestry Activist
An estimated 600 people who say their livelihoods have been affected by illegal logging and deforestation across the country are scheduled to gather in Koh Kong province on Friday at the site where environmental activist Chut Wutty was shot dead on April 26. The group will ...
Families call for help to find maids
The families of two maids working in Malaysia asked Preah Vihear’s anti-human trafficking office and the human rights group Adhoc yesterday to intervene on behalf of their daughters, whom they haven’t seen or heard from since last year, officials said. ...
Evictees Petition UN Rights Envoy for Homes
Displaced villagers from two Phnom Penh neighborhoods on Wednesday submitted a petition to the UN’s human rights envoy, who is in Cambodia on a routine fact-finding mission. The envoy, Surya Subedi, was visiting the Phnom Penh eviction site of Borei Keila ...
http://www.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/Evictees-Petition-UN-Rights-Envoy-for-Homes-150802365.html
Maids seek justice in Malaysia
Chased out of the house by her Malaysian employer, fresh-faced Tieng SaSa, 18, found shelter with an NGO, escaping alleged abuse at the hands of her employer that included binding her hands and beating her feet with a metal club until her bones broke. Three months ...
Court calls Bandith to ‘clarify’ Bavet shooting
There’s still no arrest warrant, but Svay Rieng provincial court has issued a summons to former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith, asking him to come to court on May 27 to clarify the circumstances surrounding charges related to the shooting of three protesters, an official ...
Maid Held By Malaysian Employers, Mother Says
The Cambodian Legal Education Center (CLEC), a rights group, is investigating a mother’s claim that her daughter is being abused and held against her will by her employers in Malaysia, Moeun Tola, head of CLEC’s labor program, said yesterday. ...
PM institutes land concessions moratorium
Prime Minister Hun Sen has issued an immediate and indefinite moratorium on the granting of new economic land concessions and called for a review of all existing concessions, a regulation signed by the premier yesterday states. Dated to an April 27 Council of Ministers’ meeting, the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050856036/National-news/conceding-a-problem.html
Country’s First Life Insurance Firm Enters Market
The first company to offer Cambodians life insurance will launch on May 21, an official at the company said yesterday, though experts said the firm could struggle to make good profits in a market where fraudulent claims and limited customers could become a stumbling block. Cambodia ...
MFIs defy typically slow first quarter
Total loans and deposits at the Kingdom’s microfinance institutions jumped in the first quarter of 2012 despite what is typically a slow season for the industry, insiders said yesterday. Loans outstanding reached US$708 million for the period ending on March 31, climbing 9.8 per cent from ...
Agricultural NGO to Become a Cooperative
The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac) said yesterday that it was undertaking measures to change its status from an NGO to a cooperative, a move that will ease the organization of donor money and push it to become more profit orientated ...
Hun Sen Puts Freeze on Land Concessions
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday issued a moratorium on economic land concessions, temporarily halting a long-standing policy of granting land to private companies and those with powerful political connections that has sparked growing concerns from national and international human rights groups. The prime minister’s announcement comes ...
Maersk sees a slowing EU
The Cambodia representative for the world’s largest shipping company said exports from Cambodia to Europe grew by more than 60 per cent during 2011, but have since weakened. “Rice exports grew a lot during 2011 and a lot of it went to Poland and France,” ...
Stuart Alan Becker, P. 9
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050856019/Business/maersk-sees-a-slowing-eu.html
Illegal Logging a Challenge for Carbon Trading
A Ministry of Agriculture official said yesterday he was aware of allegations of illegal logging by Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers within protected community forests in Oddar Meanchey province and was looking into it. “I am following this case, but I haven’t received their petition yet,” ...