The Phnom Penh Post
Wild lobster stocks replenished
Seven million young lobsters had been released into Cambodia’s rivers and Tonle Sap Lake this year in an effort to build the nation’s fish and shellfish stocks, officials said yesterday. Nao Thouk, general director of the Fisheries Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said, about ...
CEDAC plus honey makes for a sweet deal
Honey collectors from four provinces in Cambodia signed an agreement with the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) in order to bring more honey to the capital. CEDAC has encouraged farmers from four provinces – Preah Vihear, Kratie, Koh Kong and Mondulkiri – ...
Kratie vendors protest pricey relocation site
In an effort to improve Kratie town’s aesthetics, authorities have ordered about 300 shop owners on central roads and along the river bank to relocate their operations or face physical removal. Vendors were given until today to move to a location about a kilometre away, but ...
More Maids head home
In the space of only about two months, the Cambodian embassy in Malaysia had helped eight Cambodian maids whose employers abused them, the government said yesterday. “The maids have been mistreated by their employers and some have finished their contracts and want to come back home,” Ministry ...
'Harassed' workers stick to their guns
Ocean Garment yesterday refused to meet the sole demand of thousands of striking workers to have their manager, accused of sexual harassment, sacked. An inter-governmental ministerial committee met with union and employer representatives, but Bangladeshi-owned Ocean Garment – which supplies retail titan Gap – refused to ...
Focusing on a good user experience
Companies and individuals need to do more than just create technology. They need to optimise the services and goods they provide, especially when introducing new concepts to developing markets such as Cambodia. That was the message from one presenter at last weekend’s T3CON12-ASIA conference in Phnom ...
Monitoring questions mount
Official from Cambodian immigration, law enforcement and diplomatic circles were either unaware of, or unwilling to talk yesterday about, an alleged request from the Thai government to help monitor Cambodian Muslims crossing into the country. News of the alleged monitoring surfaced on Monday when Thai ...
Minister asks Tai Yang to reinstate 37 strikers
The Minister of Social Affairs has sent a letter to the management of the Tai Yang and Camwell garment factories, suppliers to Levi’s and Gap, requesting it reinstate 37 workers involved in a strike that has dragged on for almost two months. “In order to ensure ...
Drought hits rice exports
Rice exports this year had been flat compared to last year because of the many challenges growers were facing, insiders said this week. The data shows exports were no better than last year for the same period, as exports for the first eight months of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082158176/Business/drought-hits-rice-exports.html
Drought continues to hurt rice farmers
Farmers in provinces across the Kingdom are feeling the effects of drought after a month of dry weather in which an estimated 10,000 hectares of rice seedlings were destroyed and 135,000 hectares left at risk, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. A report from ...
Strikers claim sexual harassment
Thousands of angry garment factory workers, en route yesterday to the Ministry of Social Affairs in a protest over alleged sexual harassment, were stopped in their tracks by about 100 armed police and ordered back to the workplace. More than 2,500 workers from Phnom Penh’s Ocean ...
Acleda to sell vehicle tax stamps
Cambodia’s government yesterday announced it had chosen the largest local bank, Acleda Bank Plc, to be its partner for vehicle tax stamp sales. Acleda will operate for the General Department of Taxation of the Ministry of Economy and Finance in all 23 provinces and Phnom Penh. Sim Eang, royal ...
Toll may lose rail rights
A company with ties to one of China’s top state-owned firms will look to push Toll Royal Railways and its local partner Royal Group of Companies out of a 30-year railroad concession with pledge to invest nearly US$850 million to revamp existing lines and build an additional ...
Former anti-drug czar’s appeal begins
Disgraced anti-drug czar Moek Dara’s appeal against his life sentence for convictions in 25 separate cases of bribery and masterminding a criminal enterprise began yesterday morning in Phnom Penh. Co-accused, former Ministry of Interior anti-drug police department chief Chea Leng also appeared at the Court of ...
Land row trial delayed
Four villagers accused of masterminding the theft and intentional damage of property belonging to Cheat Aphiwat Co Ltd in a land dispute will have another month to prepare for trial after right groups Adhoc garnered them a delay yesterday. A village chief and three other villagers ...
Prey Lang patrol hands evidence to authorities
Authorities in Kampong Thom province have made good on their promise to examine evidence of illegal logging unearthed by community investigators in the greater Prey Lang area, summoning seven representatives yesterday to present their findings. The Prey Lang Community Network representatives were summoned to Sandan district ...
Software licenses debated
Open source software is an important way forward and a useful impetus for development in Cambodia, according to attendees of the Kingdom’s first software conference this weekend. The conference, which centred on TYPO3, an open source content management system (CMS), was held this past weekend ...
Mobile phone subscribers increase
The number of mobile subscribers (SIM cards sold) increased 25.28 per cent during the first half of the year as a result of an expansion in the telecommunications market, according to officials. Mobile phone service subscribers increased by 3,963,734 or 25.28 per cent to 19,642,563 compared ...
Pricey petrol punishes poor
Petrol prices have jumped by 150 riel (US$0.03) a litre, much to the dismay of Cambodia’s poor, as NGOs appealed to the government to take action. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), issued a letter dated August 16 appealing to Prime Minister Hun ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082058157/Business/pricey-petrol-punishes-poor.html
Project aims to build latrines in rural areas
A new US$10.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will fund a three-year project by international development NGO East Meets West (EMW) to improve sanitation and hygiene among the poor in rural Cambodia and Vietnam. According to EMW, the program seeks to combat the negative effects of ...
Borei Keila evictees given hope
Borei Keila families have slept under staircases near piles of rubbish since they were forced from their homes on January 3, but they are hopeful of compensation following an unexpected visit from city officials last week. Representative Chum Ngan, 39, said village, commune and Phnom Penh ...
Cambodia gains 53 factories this year
The Cambodian government has approved 53 new garment and footwear factories, worth an estimated US$338 million, during the first half of this year, compared with 38 last year valued at $180 million, despite the increase in the number of strikes affecting the industry. Officials and industry ...
Islands up for grabs
More than 180,000 hectares on 28 of Cambodia’s 64 islands were reclassified as state private property for 31 companies seeking land concessions between 2008 and 2010, government sub-decrees reveal. The reclassification sub-decrees, compiled by investigators at the rights group Adhoc, pave the way for firms to ...
Aviation revenue released, no clear figures
Aviation revenues have been released by government officials who were hesitant to reveal details but said yesterday the figures had increased by about three per cent. Mao Havannal, secretary of state for the Civil Aviation Secretariat, said after yesterday’s opening of a seminar on aviation insurance that ...