The Phnom Penh Post
Group discovers illegal logging
An expedition to expose illegal logging uncovered about 50 hectares of clear-felled forest yesterday that activists from the Prey Lang Community Network have filmed and photographed to lobby government officials, a group representative said. Chum Yin said more than 60 villagers had traveled to seven villages ...
Campaign spending in NGOs' sight
A consortium of election NGOs had banded together in a bid to push through a Campaign Finance Law that would put a ceiling on political party campaign spending ahead of next year’s national elections, representatives said yesterday. The NGO Working Group on Political Finance has embarked ...
Business concept competition a success
A business concept competition between university students from Cambodia, Japan and Myanmar that provided the perfect opportunity for improving business plans and networking with business people yesterday was won by one of Cambodia’s own. Lay Huy Huoy, a second-year student at Cambodian Mekong University majoring in business and ...
Not all app stores online
Smartphones and the accompanying online stores that sell applications for them may be gaining ground across emerging markets, according to a study conducted by a London-based telecommunications research and analysis firm, but Cambodia’s market is limited by a lack of places to legitimately purchase apps, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012081357948/Business/slow-demand-for-paid-phones-apps.html
Prey Lang villagers on forest watch
Nearly 100 Prey Lang villagers in Kampong Thom province’s Sandan district will today embark on a three-day “forest watch” mission to monitor what community representatives say are increased illegal logging activities in the jungle. This is the fourth time the community has conducted monitoring in the ...
Drought fears ignite action
Concerns that a drought may soon grip some of Cambodia’s provinces intensified after the government allocated thousands of cubic metres of water to more than 20,000 hectares of dried rice paddies in a mission to save valuable rice crops last weekend. Although the rainy season has cloaked ...
E-Revolution equals jobs
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in cooperation with a number of organisations launched a new e-waste management project yesterday in Cambodia in a bid to recycle the country’s burgeoning electronic waste and to provide job opportunities, as Hurleypalmerflatt opened an office in Cambodia to provide jobs for ...
Vehicle Imports up 45 pct in first half
Ministry of Commerce officials maintained that low import taxes and increased demand from consumers were the causes behind the 45.26 increase in vehicle imports in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period last year. The data showed 486,827 vehicles, of all makes and ...
Taxes and capital obstacles for small business owners
The exclamations of dismay that come from small-business people in Cambodia when someone tries to take a picture of their shop are to be expected, as they believe the photo will be used to make them pay taxes they cannot afford, but that doesn’t mean ...
Fees too high: AirAsia CEO
While AirAsia, one of the world’s largest low-cost airline, is gearing toward an expansion in the region, the company’s chief executive said that serving Cambodia was expensive due to high airport fees. Airport charges are high and restrictive, as are over-flight fees, compared to other countries in ...
Land officials rounded up in ACU bust
Four officials from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction accused of land dispute-related corruption were arrested on Monday by the Anti-Corruption Unit. An official who declined to be named told the Post yesterday that Sa Reth Boramy, deputy general director of General Department ...
Malaysia workers reject wage deal
Cambodian garment workers at a factory in Malaysia that supplies major international brands were on strike for a third day in a row yesterday, refusing an agreement on accommodation and demanding higher salaries. Representatives of the workers at the Honsin Apparel Sdn Bhd factory in Jahor ...
China firm proposes $6.5bn deal
Chinese firms have huge ambitions for Cambodia, with a second firm this week proposing three projects worth an estimated US$6.5 billion to the National Assembly yesterday, but no deadlines were set for the implementation of the projects, according to officials. Pan Xiaoping, chairman of Ruijin Investment Holding Ltd, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012080957898/Business/china-firm-proposes-65bn-deal.html
Mekong villagers wary of Xayaburi dam
Fishermen bring their boats to shore, pack away their traps and hand over the day’s catch to their awaiting families on the banks of the Mekong River in Kratie province’s Chitra Borei district. “When my husband arrives home each day, we eat some of what he ...
Families plead for help to stop Pursat evictions
More than 70 families in Pursat province’s Anlong Tnort commune plan to send a letter to their provincial hall today compelling officials to stop a private farming company from tearing down their houses on its 3,000 hectare economic land concession. Ratanak Visal Development Co Ltd’s security ...
FASMEC partners to introduce SME clusters
The Federation of Associations of Small and Medium-size Enterprise of Cambodia (FASMEC) will cooperate with the Thailand-based Mekong Institute to train master teachers in an effort to implement a small and medium enterprise (SME) cluster and export consortia in the coming years, according to officials. The two-day workshop ...
Dispute heats up with RCAF
Commune authorities and 41 Oddar Meanchey families Chheu Krom village staged a forum yesterday, accusing Royal Forces border soldiers of unlawfully grabbing their land and banning the villagers from farming in their area. The dispute, ongoing since 2008, has recently reached fever pitch as RCAF soldiers ...
Small concession in eviction fight
Authorities have partially backed down on an order forcing 196 residents in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district to move their homes, but refused to scrap the plan completely when confronted at Chaom Chao commune hall yesterday. Phuong Sopheap, one of about 20 residents that congregated ...
Abused Workers Back Home
A maid who fled her employer after an attempted rape and was then thrown in a detention centre just two days after she gave birth was one of 26 distressed men and women who make up the latest repatriated abuse victims from Malaysia. Detained for ...
Sen David and David Boyle, P. 1
Graft claims over mining revenue
Political activists and watchdog organisations say Cambodia’s US$13 million revenue from the mining sector over the last five years is exceedingly low and that the government must be more transparent. The claims come after the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy (MIME) released its figures on the mining ...
Rock and a hard place
Sarorn Phi, 39, cautiously stops his moto 20 metres away from the large, signless boom gate blocking his path in Sesan district. He shuffles toward the security guard’s hut at the entrance to a sprawling Chinese rubber plantation and negotiates with the guard to enter ...
Families cling to hope for land
Representatives of 44 families embroiled in a violent land dispute in Banteay Meanchey province say they are living like squatters and haven’t been granted long-promised property in the area. Kao Ty, a defence lawyer for the families, said that his clients are among the more than ...
Worker relieved of factory job
The dismissal of a worker allegedly fired by Xin Lan (Cambodia) garment factory in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district for frequently relieving himself on the factory’s perimeter fence has sparked a mass strike of about 1,000 fellow workers – almost all of the factory’s staff. Nov ...
Asian tourist numbers up, profits stagnant
The growth in international tourists visiting Cambodia is almost 27 per cent that of the numbers seen during the first six months of 2011, according to tourism officials who are predicting that the growth may be 25 per cent at the end of this year. Visitors ...