Infrastructure

A TAXPAYER-FUNDED development project is mired in controversy after the Cambodian government launched a crackdown against land rights organisations critical of the compulsory resettlement of families. The Cambodian government has cautioned a small group of foreign organisations against stirring up unrest among those being forced off ...

VISA, Mastercard, Dell and Cisco Systems have been added to a growing list of US companies looking to enter the Cambodian market, according to Frances Zwenig, counsellor of the US-ASEAN Business Council. The financial services and information technology companies joined GE, Chevron, Johnson & Johnson ...

Weak enforcement of mining laws excludes local communities from the decision-making process and smudges the revenue transparency, said George Boden, a campaigner at watchdog group Global Witness. Weak enforcement of mining laws excludes local communities from the decision-making process and smudges the revenue transparency, said ...

Democrat MP for Surat Thani Suthep Thaugsuban denies he held secret talks with Cambodian officials about oil and gas interests in the overlapping marine area during the tenure of the Democrat-led government. Mr Suthep, a former deputy prime minister, conceded yesterday he met Cambodian Deputy Prime ...

Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court has extended a deadline for 52 villagers embroiled in a long-standing land dispute with a development company owned by the wife of Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem to pay court fees, a court official and rights workers said ...

Poor sanitation costs Cambodia $450 million a year due to health costs resulting from water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, according to a new report by the UN Environment Program. The report follows data released last week by the World Bank that found that 75 percent ...

Cambodia’s progress has been slow toward achieving the UN Millennium Development Goal of increasing rural access to sanitation to 30 percent by 2015, up from 8.6 percent in 1996, the World Bank said in a report released Wednesday. The World Bank report said that rural ...

Energy planners are pushing the revival of talks with Cambodia on the oil-rich overlapping claims area (OCA) between the two countries to ensure energy security. They also urge all parties not to turn it into a political issue so that the talks stand a chance ...

NGO Forum confirmed yesterday it had received a “warning letter” from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over its advocacy on behalf of communities affected by a railway rehabilitation project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and AusAID. The warning to the umbrella group of 88 ...

Cambodia agreed to acquire Chinese-made Z-9 helicopters for US$195 million in one of 26 memorandums of understanding agreed by the two countries on Saturday. Cooperation was pledged in sectors such as energy, mining, agriculture and road construction, as well as defense spending and aid. The ...

A simmering land dispute in Kratie province’s Snuol Wildlife Sanctuary flared up Friday as hundreds of desperate villagers blocked National Road 76A for four hours in an effort to prevent the clearing of their homes and farms by a rubber company, villagers and human rights ...

Officials in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district said yesterday that all transportation of sand across the old and new Preah Monivong bridges has been banned for the duration of the rainy season to protect the road surface and avoid accidents. According to a City Hall announcement ...

Hundreds of families at Boeung Kak lake would receive land titles next week, Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema announced yesterday, but one village has been excluded from the deal that all but ends Phnom Penh’s highest-profile land dispute. At a meeting with about 500 villagers ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry met with to non-governmental groups yesterday and accused them of inciting families to oppose the rehabilitation of the Cambodian rail system, ordering the  NGOs to “readjust” their workForeign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said his ministry invited Bridges Across Borders Cambodia and ...

Authorities are planning upgrades to effectively double the capacity of boats travelling from Phnom Penh Autonomous Port to Vietnam, according to port Director General Hei Bavy. A 2009 agreement with Vietnam authorities allows ships travelling down the Mekong from Cambodia to offload at Cai Mep ...

Cambodia on July 28th hosted the 3rd Greater Mekong Sub- Region Environment Ministers to look forward to sustainable economic development in the region and to talk about current projects to reduce harm for regions and also to minimize several environmental challenges affecting natural resources, forest and ...

With the paving of the road from Sen Monorom City to a planned international border crossing with Vietnam recently completed, cross-border trade in the area is expected to rise, officials said. Chinese-owned company Roch China Construction finished paving the 32-km road last month using a ...

Bauxite reserves in Mondolkiri province abandoned by Australian mining form BHP Billiton in 2009 are now being explored by China’s Mongolia Erdos Hongjun Holding Group, the same firm that is behind the controversial development of Boeng Kak lake in Phnom Penh. Kong Pisith, director of ...

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) the regional and national power grids are key to development, though plans for their development have come under criticism by a number of NGOs who believe that power generation should be decentralized. The ADB’s Greater Mekong Subregion program ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called for greater regional cooperation to tackle a range of environmental problems in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, but did not specifically address the threat posed by dams. “I call on all countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region to place more emphasis ...

Cambodian officials yesterday touted the potential for green energy to meet its goal of bringing electricity to 100 percent of households by 2020. The Kingdom was looking to develop solar energy, small-scale hydropower and biomass-fuelled power to meet the target, said Ministry of Industry, Mines and ...

Chevron partner KrisEnergy Holding Company has secured $115 million for its projects in the offshore petroleum area known as Block A . Block A is leased by Chevron Overseas Petroleum Cambodia Limited with 30 percent interest, KrisEnergy Holding Company with 25 percent, Mitsui Oil Exploration ...

Government approval has been granted to the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) for the development of high-end condominiums, a hotel, shopping mall and more on the land surrounding the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. OCIC is in the process of obtaining a 99 year lease ...

Roads, bridges, schools, sanitation and other forms of basic infrastructure are still top priorities for many rural citizens of Cambodia. Comfrel has done a study of issues that voters are concerned with and found that infrastructure is a key area. Traditionally the rural areas have ...