The Cambodia Daily
Chinese Company Behind Stung Treng Dam
A Chinese hydropower company, identified as Consultant CECCI, along with Royal Group and Vietnamese power giant Electricity Vietnam International (EVNI), will be in charge of the Lower Sesan 2 dam construction project in Stung Treng province, as well as the relocation of the 5,000 affected ...
Anti-Eviction Protesters Camp at US Embassy for Second Day
Anti-eviction protesters set up camp in front of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh for a second day yesterday, but ended their protest in the early evening when a petition to U.S. President Barack Obama was taken into the diplomatic mission by an embassy guard. “The ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protesters-camp-at-us-embassy-for-second-day-5358/
Companies in Talks to Build Helicopter Factory
A U.S.-Korean joint venture is in talks with the government to build a helicopter manufacturing plant and a training facility for helicopter pilots and mechanics, an aviation official and a company representative said this week. Richard Pak, a representative of South Korean firm Samik Bio Energy ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/companies-in-talks-to-build-helicopter-factory-5362/
Review of Land Concessions Foiled by Rain, Leeches
Six months after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a moratorium on the granting of economic land concessions (ELCs) and a legal review of the concessions that already exist, the Agriculture Ministry has yet to begin the review process due to rain, and the danger of ...
Anti-Eviction Protesters Appeal to Obama
As Barack Obama was declared president of the United States for a second term yesterday, about 50 anti-eviction protesters for the Boeng Kak and Borei Keila communities camped out in front of the U.S. Embassy and appealed for the president’s help in addressing land rights ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-eviction-protesters-appeal-to-obama-5315/
Despite Environmental Concerns, Xayaburi Breaks Ground
Lao officials and executives of a Thai construction company conducted a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday in Xayaburi to inaugurate the first dam to be built on the lower mainstream Mekong, putting to one side concerns that the dam could devastate fisheries in Cambodia and Vietnam. Prior to ...
Australia Drops Cambodian Bribery Allegations
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have closed an investigation into suspicious payments to officials in Cambodia by the world’s largest mining company BHP Billiton, according to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Although the report, released last month, does not ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/australia-drops-cambodian-bribery-allegations-5337/
Coalition Party Could Take 30 Percent of Vote in 2013 Elections
The Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), a coalition of the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party, stands to gain about 30 percent of the vote if it decides to stand against the ruling CPP in next year’s national elections, the Committee for Free ...
Lauren Crothers, P.15
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Casino-Funded Election Committee Office Breaks Ground
The National Election Committee (NEC) broke ground yesterday on a $12-million tower being funded by the casino company NagaCorp that is set to take more than two years to complete and has drawn concern from election groups. At a ceremony that took place on National Assembly ...
Construction of Lower Sesan Dam in Stung Treng to Start in 2014
Construction of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Stung Treng province will begin in 2014 and the government will spend next year relocating some 5,000 people from villages that are located in the dam’s future reservoir area. Located near the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok ...
As Climate Changes, Farmers Need More Help
The government is not doing enough to help farmers weather the destructive effects of drought and flooding brought on by climate change, leaving NGOs to provide aid and emergency relief in cases of natural disaster, agriculture industry leaders said at a forum yesterday. ...
World Court to Hold Preah Vihear Hearing
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold a verbal hearing with Cambodian and Thailand over disputed land around Preah Vihear temple in April, government officials said yesterday. “A verbal hearing with the Thai party will be held in April so that [we can] have a ...
Chea Vichea Murder Case Back in Court
The two men convicted of – and widely believed framed for – the 2004 assassination of union leader Chea Vichea are set to appear at the Appeal Court for their retrial today, nearly four years after the Supreme Court released them and ordered a reinvestigation ...
Union Tells EU, US to Not Inspect Activist Case
More than 100 moto-taxi and tuk tuk drivers who are part of a little-known workers union submitted a letter to the U.S. Embassy and the European Union Delegation yesterday, asking them not to intervene in the case of Boeng Kak activist Yorm Bopha. It is not ...
Villagers Accuse Police Chief of Illegal Logging
Villagers in the Prey Lang forest in Kompong Thom province have filed the complaint with the provincial court and the Forestry Administration accusing a commune police chief of involvement in logging high-grade timber, officials and villagers said yesterday. The complaint, thumbprinted by 210 people, alleges that ...
Locals Lobby Ice Factory to Reduce Noise, Smell
A factory in Phnom Penh has been ordered to construct a barrier to reduce noise, and a bad smell, from ice-making machinery that runs 24 hours a day and has local residents losing sleep, district officials said. Seventy families from Russei Keo district’s Kilometer 6 ...
Coffee Chain Costa to Open Shop Next Month in Phnom Penh
The U.K.-based coffee chain Costa Coffee will join the mix of few coffee shops in Phnom Penh when it opens its first branch in Chamcar Mon district next month, representative of the international branch said yesterday. Rami Sharaf, CEO of RMA Cambodia, which represents international brands ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/coffee-chain-costa-to-open-shop-next-month-in-phnom-penh-5301/
Telecom Group Vimpelcom Hires Adviser to Help Sell Beeline
United Arab Emirates-telecoms group Vimpelcom has hired Standard Chartered to advice it on the sale of its business in Cambodia, Laos, Burundi, Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic, two people familiar with the matter said. New York-listed Vimpelcom wants to focus on its largest markets of ...
NGOs Call for Asean Rights Document Delay
With less than two weeks until Asean leaders meet in Phnom Penh to consider approval of the region’s first human rights declaration, international NGOs yesterday urged them to postpone passing what they are calling a “deeply flawed” document. “In the current form, the [Asean Human Rights] ...
Phnom Penh Port Cargo Up 15 Percent on Last Year
The amount of cargo entering Cambodia through the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port increased 14.92 percent over the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period in 2011, a port official said yesterday. “We are seeing that the major imports are construction equipment ...
Protesters Want Obama’s Support Over Evictions
About 100 residents embroiled in land disputes in Phnom Penh submitted a petition to the U.S. Embassy yesterday requesting that President Barack Obama raise the issue of evictions and reform of the country’s land concession policy when he visits Cambodia later this month. The plea comes ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protesters-want-obamas-support-in-evictions-5252/
National Election Committee Dismisses Criticism of Reform
At the ceremony yesterday making the official start of the National Election Committee’s new mandate, NEC chairman Im Suosdey criticized the U.N. human rights envoy to Cambodia for taking an exceedingly harsh view of the country’s much derided electoral system. In a July report to the ...
Dam Firm Told to Build Homes for Affected Communities
Prime Minister Hun Sen has said that the company responsible for building the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province will be in charge of constructing homes for thousands of villagers that will be displaced according to a statement Friday by the Council of ...
Cambodia Accuses Europe of Interference
In its first official response to a highly critical resolution on Cambodia from the European Parliament, the government has rejected all criticism and instead accused the Parliament in Brussels of playing politics and interfering in Phnom Penh’s affairs. In its resolution approved October 26, the European ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-accuses-europe-of-interference-5183/