The Phnom Penh Post
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 ...
China giant looks to Kingdom
Shandong Shantui, a Chinese firm and one of the largest manufacturers of heavy construction machinery and largest producer of bulldozers has expressed an interest in investing in Cambodia’s agricultural sectors. General Manager Cheng Zhaohong met with Cambodia’s National Assembly President Heng Samrin yesterday morning to present the company’s ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012080757846/Business/china-giant-looks-to-cambodia.html
Growth to be focus of ASEAN Economic Summit
Prime Minister Hun Sen will be opening the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting and related meetings will kick off August 27 in Siem Reap, the centre of Khmer culture and civilization in Cambodia, and will run to September 1, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The meeting ...
Flood's lessons linger in Kratie
When 41-year-old Pheng Seng’s brick-making business was ravaged by flood in Kratie province a year ago, he lost about US$5,000. Kratie town also flooded this time a year ago. It was so bad that speedboats were seen zipping through the streets past submerged motorcycles with ...
Preah Vihear villagers protest soldiers' SLC
Villagers who allege authorities and armed forces in Preah Vihear province have been burning their houses and clearing farmland of 400 families, to create a social land concession, protested yesterday, calling on intervention from Prime Minister Hun Sen. The 5,557-hectare SLC in Kulen district’s Srayang village ...
Families stand firm on eviction
A group of families whose homes are in the way of a municipal road-widening project rejected an offer from city hall on Friday to relocate and receive financial compensation, representatives from the community said. Located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh in Tuol Kork district, community ...
New spin on an old traditionArtisan Designers (AND)
Putting a new spin on a traditional art form isn’t a simple thing to achieve, but for niche fashion enterprise Artisan Designers (AND) an ambitious new branding campaign is seeing Cambodian handicrafts pushed in a new direction. Opening eight months ago on the tourist-friendly street 240, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012080657820/Business/new-spin-on-an-old-tradition.html
Adidas joins fashion district
Phnom Penh now offers Adidas brand-name sportswear at #90 Sihanouk Boulevard just west of the Independence Monument in the latest enhancement of what has become Cambodia’s fashion district. Phnom Penh’s movers and shakers were on hand for Saturday night’s Adidas launch event with a tent-enclosed street-side stage adjacent ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012080657821/Business/adidas-joins-fashion-district.html