The Phnom Penh Post
For Royal Group, sale not desired
Executives from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and local partner Royal Group of Companies (RGC) both went into damage control yesterday after comments by ANZ chief executive officer Mike Smith suggesting the joint banking venture between the two was on the rocks. Royal ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/royal-group-sale-not-desired
Factory waste blamed for health, crop woes
Forty families in Kampong Chhnang province’s Peani commune complained yesterday that a local factory has been polluting their land with toxic liquid waste. Kong Yom, 40, a representative of the 40 families in Krang Ta Ekh village, said yesterday that this is not the first time ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-waste-blamed-health-crop-woes
IDEA activist denied bail
Moments after Prak Sovannary heard the Court of Appeal denied her husband’s request for bail, she sobbed over a speaker affixed to the top of a tuk-tuk, condemning the decision to about 150 supporters. “Release him! Release him!” said Sovannary, the wife of Independent Democracy of ...
Chhay Channyda and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/idea-activist-denied-bail
Areng Valley mining may unseat dam
A highly controversial, Chinese-backed hydropower project in the Areng Valley could be delayed in favour of mining, should “research” for the dam approved by Phnom Penh in February uncover precious metals or gems. Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was granted approval on ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/areng-valley-mining-may-unseat-dam
Visiting EU MPs have full agenda
A group of European Union parliamentarians will arrive in the Kingdom today to “study and research” the organisation of elections, the resolution of land disputes, democratic development and EU development projects, according to a statement issued by the National Assembly yesterday. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/visiting-eu-mps-have-full-agenda
Rolling blackouts ‘not in the works’: official
Phnom Penh residents should experience blackouts less frequently this dry season, as state-run Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) now has enough power to avoid a repeat of last year’s rolling blackouts, a senior company official said yesterday. The amount of electricity Cambodia will receive from several hydropower ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rolling-blackouts-%E2%80%98not-works%E2%80%99-official
Sonando vows to go ahead with protest
Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando yesterday promised to once again defy Phnom Penh Municipal Hall and go ahead with an unsanctioned March 31 protest against the Ministry of Information’s refusal to give him a television licence and more relay frequencies to extend the reach of ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sonando-vows-go-ahead-protest
Shake-up may move judicial figures to new positions
Twenty judges and prosecutors may soon find themselves pulling up stakes and tackling new jurisdictions, according to a draft list detailing a wide-ranging judicial reshuffling obtained by thePost yesterday. In the proposed shake-up, Phnom Penh Municipal Court president Chiv Keng will be moved into a position as ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/shake-may-move-judicial-figures-new-positions
Cambodia lagging on energy, water, says UN
A United Nations study released on Friday shows that Cambodia has the highest rates – among 11 Asian countries surveyed – of people lacking access to electricity, clean water and sanitation. The 2014 UN World Water Development report, titled Facing the Challenges, ranks Cambodia below countries including ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia-lagging-energy-water-says-un
Friends in high places
A Chinese developer with a “family-like” relationship to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit has accelerated construction at its $5 billion resort – ostensibly cancelled by royal decree in 2010 – in a protected national park in Preah Sihanouk province. The 3,300-hectare Golden Silver Gulf resort ...
Daniel Pye and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/friends-high-places
Wing Star workers to end strike
Employees at the Kampong Speu shoe factory where a ceiling collapse killed two workers last May are headed back to work today after more than a week on strike, but will take their demands to the Arbitration Council. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wing-star-workers-end-strike
Neighbours wary of Laos dam plan
In its race to cash in on hydropower without first addressing its downstream implications, Laos could pitch the region into a water crisis and jeopardise millions of Cambodian’s food security, conservation groups and Cambodian government officials said yesterday. “Lao PDR is exploiting the Mekong River to ...
Laignee Barron and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/neighbours-wary-laos-dam-plan
NBC won’t recognise bitcoin
Cambodia’s central bank won’t recognise bitcoin as a form of payment, making the Kingdom the latest Asian country to reject the digital currency. National Bank of Cambodia director-general Chea Serey confirmed the regulator’s stance on the issue on Wednesday, citing the absence of any e-commerce law ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/nbc-won%E2%80%99t-recognise-bitcoin
It’s paradise – for some
On the shore of Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district overlooking a cluster of islands, a flourishing new golf course lies vacant but for a handful of workers tending its empty greens. The Romanesque hotel behind it, replete with a bold central dome, luxury VIP suites ...
May Titthara and David Boyle
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/its-paradise-%E2%80%93-some
Pepsi to buy only ‘clean’ sugar
Soft-drinks giant PepsiCo has pledged to take a “zero-tolerance” approach to land grabs by its sugar suppliers. In a statement posted on the company’s website on Tuesday, it said the move came in response to a campaign by Oxfam, which targeted Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pepsi-buy-only-%E2%80%98clean%E2%80%99-sugar
Tonle Sap Lake fisheries a concern for dam project
Already under attack by overfishing, pollution and deforestation, Tonle Sap Lake fisheries face an even bigger threat in the form of hydropower dams, according to experts. Laos’ planned Don Sahong Hydropower Project in particular has environmentalists fearing an emptier, less bio-diverse lake, and a nation pitched ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tonle-sap-lake-fisheries-concern-dam-project
Construction on Cambodia Plaza resumes after years-long delay
After postponing construction due to the 2008 economic crisis, work on the ambitious Cambodia Plaza is gradually being resumed. The plaza is a mixed development project along Russian Boulevard close to the western end of the 7 January Overpass. Cambodia Plaza project manager Adam Liv said the ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/construction-cambodia-plaza-resumes-after-years-long-delay
City’s third overpass shoots for ahead-of-schedule completion
Phnom Penh’s third overpass, or flyover, bridge is now close to completion, some eight months ahead of schedule, and its planners say it will not only greatly improve traffic congestion in the southwest of the city but will also lead to price increases for property ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/city%E2%80%99s-third-overpass-shoots-ahead-schedule-completion
The protester clause
A majority government-owned life insurance company has stopped paying out benefits to policy holders who die while taking part in protests and demonstrations, the company confirmed yesterday. The Cambodian Life Insurance Company – 51 per cent owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and 49 ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protester-clause
Different stories on CNRP meet with Bishop
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has been meeting with a number of Australian lawmakers in recent days, asking them to urge the Australian government to support his call for reform and a new election in Cambodia. But while the Cambodia National Rescue Party leader had announced that ...
Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/different-stories-cnrp-meet-bishop
Bail request for Pov as union seeks property
A union leader among 21 workers and activists arrested in January demonstrations will appear in the Court of Appeal to argue for bail next week, despite the same court denying his request last month. Vorn Pov, president of Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), and ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bail-request-pov-union-seeks-property
Burger King chain to expand
Burger King will launch another three restaurants in Cambodia by the end of the year, according to a company official, in a move that will bolster the fast food chain’s share of a market dominated by KFC. Somach Sovary, support manager for Burger King Cambodia, said ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/burger-king-chain-expand
Infighting at garment union
Two founding members of Cambodia’s largest independent garment worker union say they were forced out of their jobs for investigating corruption. Members of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), media outlets and several labour rights organisations received a letter dated March 14 and ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/infighting-garment-union
Dam critics outline litany of risks
As villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley continue to block Sinohydro Corp employees from entering the area where the Stung Cheay Areng dam is planned, conservationists and rights workers have spoken of the havoc it will wreak if it goes ahead. In terms of the ...
Daniel Pye and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-critics-outline-litany-risks