The Phnom Penh Post
No scheme in place for congestion near AEON
Despite expecting 27,000 visitors per day, little planning has gone into tackling traffic congestion at Cambodia’s long-awaited AEON Mall when it opens June 30, City Hall said yesterday. There are 1,400 vehicle parking spaces allotted at AEON and 1,600 bikes spaces accessed via both Sothearos ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/no-scheme-place-congestion-near-aeon
Ex-KR soldiers lock in land-dispute meeting
Seventy-four former Khmer Rouge soldiers fighting for land they claim the government granted them in the 1990s have agreed to meet with the military commanders who allegedly sold the parcels for personal profit. The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, follows a week after a pair representatives for ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ex-kr-soldiers-lock-land-dispute-meeting
Thailand deports migrants
More than 100 Cambodians were deported from Thailand yesterday after Thai security forces conducted operations over the weekend aimed at stemming the flow of illegal immigrants. Net Sary, Cambodia’s consul-general in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province, said yesterday that 120 Cambodians, including four minors, were deported after ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thailand-deports-migrants
CNRP youths ‘to enter park’
More than 100 opposition supporters gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday morning for training in “defending freedom” ahead of a planned attempt to enter Freedom Park on Wednesday. Opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua, who has been forcibly removed from the park a number of times this month, led ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-youths-%E2%80%98-enter-park%E2%80%99
Minor fraud prompts hard prison sentence
A former civil servant was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison by Kampong Cham Provincial Court for stealing the pensions of 10 retired teachers – a total of $500 – in March 2012. Mang Yusreng, former chief of the Social Affairs Office in Srei ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/minor-fraud-prompts-hard-prison-sentence
Deal falters, blame begins
Senior Cambodian People’s Party figures who have been at the forefront of negotiations with the opposition party yesterday offered lukewarm responses to the prospect of restarting talks that would bring an end to the opposition’s seven-month-long parliamentary boycott. Their position – that the opposition party was ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/deal-falters-blame-begins
Battambang, tourism, UNESCO officials talk World Heritage plans
UNESCO, the Battambang provicial government and tourism officials held talks yesterday on plans to list the province on the UN arm’s World Heritage Cities Program. As part of the first of several conferences on sustainable tourism for the conservation of cultural and natural heritage and the ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/battambang-tourism-unesco-officials-talk-world-heritage-plans
SECC targets investor scams
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) is investigating a rise in fraudulent get-rich-quick schemes that prey on Cambodian investors, the market watchdog said yesterday. Unlicensed investment schemes operating inside Cambodia will go under the SECC’s microscope, while multilevel marketing firms that appeal to vulnerable ...
Kimsay Hor and Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/secc-targets-investor-scams
Concerns ahead of trial for 23
One the eve of the trial of 23 people arrested during a garment strike in January, their supporters yesterday expressed concern that politics, rather than the facts, may determine the verdict. Nearly four months after their arrests at protests on January 2 and 3 – the ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/concerns-ahead-trial-23
Med students won’t boycott test
Medical students who vowed on Sunday to boycott the first government-ordered national exams under claims of discrimination backtracked on their threats yesterday. Da Nhel, 27, a representative of the student doctors, said that just hours after threatening to boycott the exams, which were approved by the ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/med-students-won%E2%80%99t-boycott-test
UN envoy hits out at Freedom Park cutoff
The United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of assembly has called the Cambodian authorities’ continuous blockade of Freedom Park, the enforcement of which saw security guards attack journalists and supporters of opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua on Monday, “deeply disturbing”. “The authorities have no legal basis for ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-envoy-hits-out-freedom-park-cutoff
Riel trust needed for stability
As much as $320 million is being lost annually as a result of Cambodia’s reliance on the US dollar, while a longstanding mistrust in the riel means there is less of the local currency in circulation, restricting the national bank’s ability to respond in times ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/riel-trust-needed-stability
Garment maker to list at $2.41 per share
Grand Twins International, Cambodia’s second stock exchange listing, will list at the lower end of its expected buy-in range, an announcement on the Phnom Penh Securities (PPS) website said yesterday. GTI is to begin trading on May 29 with nine million shares at $2.41 each, according ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/garment-maker-list-241-share
Trial for 23 finally under way
The long-awaited trial of the 23 men arrested during strike demonstrations in early January began this morning at 8 am at Phnom Penh Municipal Court and is proceeding into the afternoon. Before the trial began, police had already blocked off the street in front of the ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trial-23-finally-under-way
Heritage preserved: Park status to protect ancient site
Ancient ironwork at a site in Preah Vihear province that predates the civilisation of Angkor will fall within a new national park formed by royal decree last week. More than 200 pre-Angkor era industrial sites have been discovered since 2010, but the newly created national park ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/heritage-preserved-park-status-protect-ancient-site
Tax dept can’t do job, report says
Cambodia’s tax department is under-resourced and understaffed, thereby hindering its ability to generate revenue, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) analysis released earlier this month. The analysis, which took into account survey results from 22 tax revenue bodies across Asia between 2012 and 2013, paints ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tax-dept-can%E2%80%99t-do-job-report-says
EdC under pressure
One month after the capital’s power provider promised to end chronic city blackouts for good this hot season, residents and businesses continue to find themselves sweltering in the heat and throwing away any spoilable goods due to the unpredictable losses of electricity. In March, Electricite du ...
Laignee Barron and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/edc-under-pressure
Bus strike, part deux
Striking Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation bus service workers demonstrated with fired employees outside a company garage in Russey Keo district yesterday and threatened to lead others off the job again if a deal on contracts can’t be brokered by the Ministry of Labour and company ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bus-strike-part-deux
Trade deficit prompts call to diversify exports
Cambodia’s trade deficit expanded to almost half a billion dollars during the first three months of the year, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Commerce. Between January and March, Cambodia’s exports reached $1.99 billion, up 19 per cent compared to the same period ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/trade-deficit-prompts-call-diversify-exports
Union leaders in court over ‘detainment’ of factory boss
Two union leaders were summonsed and questioned by a municipal court prosecutor yesterday over allegations they illegally detained the boss of a packaging factory in Por Sen Chey district’s Choam Chao commune during a strike. According to Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Ek Chheng Huoth, ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-leaders-court-over-%E2%80%98detainment%E2%80%99-factory-boss
Local and foreign business interests form luxury property joint venture
A mid strong demand growth in the Grade A office sector, a joint-venture agreement signing event was held at the Sofitel Phokeethra last week, establishing an investment company, provisionally called Kingdom Luxury Development Co, which aims to build a Grade-A office tower Phnom Penh. The joint-venture ...
Lightning strike kills two people
Lightning killed two people sheltering from rain on Wednesday in Preah Sihanouk’s Stung Hav district. Ros Ky, the district police chief, said Khem Nget, a 40-year-old motodop from Kampot, and a second victim identified only as Vanny, 50, were taking shelter near Vanny’s home in Tomnup ...
Khoun Leakhana
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lightning-strike-kills-two-people
Evictions at airport planned
Dozens of houses have been marked for demolition near Phnom Penh International Airport as authorities say the families must be moved to bring the site in line with international standards. Civil aviation officials visited Chrey Chisark village in Por Sen Chey district’s Choam Choa commune with ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evictions-airport-planned
Villagers in land fight use flames
Members of a Lao ethnic community in Ratanakkiri province allegedly burned down three makeshift houses belonging to a rubber plantation on Monday. The 250 villagers in Veun Sai district’s Hatpak village accuse Indian-owned SK Company of encroaching on the forest and ignoring markers demarcating village farmland, ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-land-fight-use-flames