The Phnom Penh Post
Brands ‘violating contract rights’
Exclusive use of short-term contracts continues to impede progress in Cambodia’s garment sector, with major brands still sourcing from factories violating the statutory two-year limit on temporary employment, labour rights groups have warned. According to a report released last week by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/brands-%E2%80%98violating-contract-rights%E2%80%99
Rice customs fees dropped
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) will scrap customs fees for rice exporters from May 1 in an effort to reduce production costs and boost Cambodia’s competitiveness in the sector, according to a letter obtained by the Post. “[The ministry] has agreed to eliminate charges ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-customs-fees-dropped
Laos plans new consulate
Laos plans to establish consulate general in Siem Reap province to boost bilateral cooperation with Cambodia through tourism and trade, a senior official from Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday. “Tourism from Laos is increasing annually, so Lao PDR will establish a general consulate based ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/laos-plans-new-consulate
Union scrambling for $25k bail
The leader of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union may soon be in jail, with the group fearing it will not be able to afford the $25,000 bail a judge has ordered be paid by April 25, its vice president said yesterday. Ath Thorn, president of the ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-scrambling-25k-bail
Preah Vihear overnight tourist stays a hard sell
Despite a noticeable increase in daily tourist arrivals in Preah Vihear province – home of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple – overnight stays remain low, tourism officials and guesthouse owners say. Preah Vihear tourism department figures show that from January to March, foreign tourist arrivals reached ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/preah-vihear-overnight-tourist-stays-hard-sell
Factory shutters in shame
The Zongtex Garment factory off Phnom Penh’s Russian Boulevard looks like a nondescript residential compound, hidden down a dead-end road. There are no signs suggesting that it supplied to some of the world’s leading high street names – and the US military. Taiwanese-owned Zongtex Garment Manufacturing ...
Daniel Pye, Alice Cuddy and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-shutters-shame
Cambodian mangoes ship off to China
Agriculture tycoon Mong Reththy yesterday confirmed a second shipment of Koe Romeat mangoes, twice the size of the first, will be headed for China this week from his Preah Sihanouk plantation. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodian-mangoes-ship-china
Latest property reports offer evidence of strong growth
In its latest Market View report, CBRE Cambodia Research concludes that Phnom Penh has well and truly put the fallout from the Global Financial Crisis – which saw many condominium developments in the city put on hold or even fail – behind it, and the ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/latest-property-reports-offer-evidence-strong-growth
Phnom Penh makes top 5 of Knight Frank real estate index
Phnom Penh has earned one of the top spots in a new report tracking prices of residential and commercial real estate across the region. The Knight Frank Asia Pacific Prime Asia Development Land Index, which the global real estate consultancy has hailed as a market first, ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/phnom-penh-makes-top-5-knight-frank-real-estate-index
Tourism numbers give boost to Sihanoukville property prices
Property has seen a boost in Sihanoukville city in the first quarter of this year, underpinned by increased tourist numbers year-on-year. Cheng Kheng, director of CPL Real Estate Company and president of the Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association, said the outlook on property in Sihanoukville ...
Sum Manet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/tourism-numbers-give-boost-sihanoukville-property-prices
Atmospheric hole discovered
Scientists have discovered a new phenomenon in the skies above Southeast Asia: a huge, invisible hole in the atmosphere’s lowest layer that may exacerbate the effects of Cambodia’s climate change. The hole – roughly twice the length of New Zealand and concentrated just east of the ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/atmospheric-hole-discovered
A logging free-for-all
The scale of mass logging in once-dense woodlands in Cambodia’s north now more closely resembles the free-for-all of a gold rush than the sustainable forestry more often associated with these communities. With the financial backing of powerful businessmen, villagers in three districts of Preah Vihear are ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-free-all
Unions drum up strike support
At the site where security forces shot dead at least four people during a nationwide strike on January 3, union leaders yesterday passed out fliers encouraging workers to join a stay-at-home strike after Khmer New Year. When workers filed out of Canadia Industrial Park’s gates for ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-drum-strike-support
Flood repair bill under estimate
The National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) released a report yesterday showing that only $356 million was spent on the restoration of infrastructure destroyed by last year’s floods – far below the $500 million in damage estimated beforehand. Nhim Vanda, vice chairman of the NCDM, said ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/flood-repair-bill-under-estimate
Luxury resort looks for new lease of life with redesigned blueprint
A new blueprint for the long-delayed Snake Island (Koh Pos) resort development off the coast of Sihanoukville will soon be completed, and investment of up to $1 billion is hoped to kick-start the project, which has a planned completion date of 2018, according to the ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/luxury-resort-looks-new-lease-life-redesigned-blueprint
Jail time for governor if summons ignored
The governor of Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district will face arrest if he fails to appear for a second summons to Ratanakkiri Provincial Court to answer questions about his alleged involvement in the illegal logging of protected land around the Ou’Sinlair waterfall, the court said yesterday. The ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/jail-time-governor-if-summons-ignored
Acid services reduced
With acid attacks in steep decline – not a single attack has been recorded so far this year – the only organisation working directly with acid survivors on the ground is scaling back its services by 75 per cent. Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) is no ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/acid-services-reduced
Beeline to launch 4G network by year’s end
Mobile network operator Beeline announced on Monday that it will launch a 4G service by the end of the year. Hout Vanthan, the chairman of parent company Sotelco, said the 4G network will be available in Phnom Penh by the fourth quarter of 2014. ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/beeline-launch-4g-network-year%E2%80%99s-end
Cyber bill raises concerns
Cambodia’s highly secretive draft law on cybercrime, which has never been released publicly, seeks to criminalise online content that “slanders or undermines” government agencies, ministries or officials or affects “political cohesiveness”, a copy obtained by the Post reveals. The law, which was first announced in May ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cyber-bill-raises-concerns
Cashew plantations ‘destroyed’
Representatives of 50 families in Ratanakkiri’s Andong Meas district filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc yesterday alleging that a Vietnamese concessionaire is responsible for destroying about 50 hectares of cashew plantations. Sorl Penh, 58, a representative for the villagers from Nhang commune, said yesterday that ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cashew-plantations-%E2%80%98destroyed%E2%80%99
Return reps, upgrade paycheck, say strikers
More than 200 workers at a company connected to Thai firm K Cement downed tools yesterday and protested in front of the factory in Kampot province, demanding major pay increases and for fired unionists to be reinstated. Ty Yann, secretary of the Building and Wood Workers ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/return-reps-upgrade-paycheck-say-strikers
City Hall to shepherd public bus operation
City Hall has taken over the recently launched public bus route in Phnom Penh pending a review of the Chinese-owned firm that is contracted to run the fledgling service, a company official said yesterday. Lim Andre, Global (Cambodia) Trade Development’s manager in Phnom Penh, said yesterday ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/city-hall-shepherd-public-bus-operation
Costs don’t top brands’ concerns
In their latest bid for a $160 minimum monthly wage for the garment industry, independent unions will lead a “stay at home” strike late next week. While the chances of that figure being approved anytime soon seem slight – the government has only just announced a ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/costs-don%E2%80%99t-top-brands%E2%80%99-concerns
Rethinking investment laws
Cambodia’s 11-year-old investment law may be the most liberal in the region, according to the World Bank, but in practice, day-to-day business operations are far from simple, economists and business operators say. Mey Kalyan, senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, said that despite a ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rethinking-investment-laws