News
Government Orders Railway Repairs to Start
The government has ordered French construction firm TSO (Cambodia) Co. Ltd. to resume work repairing the railway line between Phnom Penh and Serei Saophoan City in Banteay Meanchey province, an official said yesterday. The French firm has been contracted to rehabilitate the France-build railway – a ...
France Ready for Talks on Gas Power Plant
Utilities giant Electricite de France (EdF) is preparing to enter negotiations with Cambodia over the construction of a power plant to use up natural gas locked up in disputed waters off the country’s coast, France’s ambassador-in-waiting to Cambodia said on Tuesday. Serge Mostura, who is still ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/france-ready-for-talks-on-gas-power-plant-9596/
Cambodia's energy costs deter investors
Cambodia’s infrastructure is deterring highly anticipated investment into the production of raw materials to support its rapidly growing garment sector, experts say. While garment exports rose 10.2 per cent to $5.48 billion last year, the increase of raw materials imported to support this growth increased about ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020761221/Business/cambodia-s-energy-costs-deter-investors.html
Cambodia's government takes back land
The government has slashed about 250,000 hectares of land from 79 economic land concessions (ELCs), forest concessions and wildlife protection concessions and will return it, replete with land titles, to “poor people”, January’s Royal Book says. The publication, issued on January 17 and obtained yesterday, says ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020761237/National/cambodia-s-government-takes-back-land.html
Jarai File Complaint Over Firm Filling In Lake
Etnhic Jarai families living in Ratanakkiri province’s Kakeo district yesterday filed a complaint with the provincial court, accusing a Vietnamese rubber company of clearing their ancestral land and filling in a lake they use for fishing and irrigation. Local officials say the company intends to ...
Investors from Korea relocate to Cambodia
Korean investors are relocating labour-intensive businesses to countries such as Cambodia after Indonesia raised its minimum wage. A number of Korean investors had closed their Indonesian factories and relocated to other countries in the region because their requests for minimum-wage exemption had been refused, The Jakarta ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020761220/Business/investors-from-korea-relocate-to-cambodia.html
Tractor imports decrease, but experts not concerned
Tractor imports fell by 24 per cent last year, a significant decrease from 44,993 units in 2011 to 36,301 units, according to recent statistics from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Although the cultivation of some crops in the Kingdom has increased, analysts said yesterday ...
Guilty verdict for timber cop
Pursat Provincial Court yesterday sentenced a military official, Poung Puthearith, to two years in jail – suspended to six months – on charges of threatening and obstructing the works of a forestry official, a court official said. Puthearith was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020761235/National/guilty-verdict-for-timber-cop.html
Court sets date for new hearing in Bandith case
The Appeal Court has set a hearing date in a case against former Bavet town Governor Chhouk Bandith, who stands accused of shooting three protesting garment workers last year. In December, the Svay Rieng Provincial Court dropped charges against the official, only to see the case ...
Cambodia attracts 9.17 bln USD investment from China in last 18 years
Cambodia has attracted 9.17 billion U.S. dollar investment from China in the last 18 years ( 1994-2012), making China become the largest investor in this country, showed a government report on Wednesday. According to the report, China’s investment in Cambodia focused on the fields ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-02/06/c_132154931.htm
Russian Firm Steps Up Dam Deal
Laos has stepped up plans for three hydropower dams on Mekong River tributaries, updating an eight-year-old deal with a Russian investor to build the projects for U.S. $1.5 billion. Lao authorities signed a project development agreement with Russia’s Regional Oil for the Sekong 4, Sekong 5, ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/hydropower-02062013151208.html
Local cashew nut exports increasing
Cambodia’s cashew-nut exports increased sharply from 443 tonnes in 2011 to 4,453 tonnes last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. But observers say these figures do not reflect reality, as a large percentage of exports had not been recorded. An expert in cashew nut production, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020661205/Business/local-cashew-nut-exports-increasing.html
Aeon considering more malls in Phnom Penh
More than 4,000 people attended a ceremony in December last year that saw Japan’s largest shopping mall developer and operator, Aeon, breaking ground on its three-storey mall in Phnom Penh, and the company says it is already considering building more in the capital. Aeon Mall ...
Ta Prohm restoration workers go on strike
The entire work force of the Ta Prohm temple restoration project in Siem Reap – more than 100 people – gathered at the temple yesterday to demand the reinstatement of 30 of their number [sic] who were dismissed at the start of the month. The 145 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020661208/National/ta-prohm-restoration-workers-go-on-strike.html
Mfone transfer questioned
Although Mfone subscribers are due to transfer their accounts to Mobitel today, the Post has learned that telco provider Huawei Technologies (Cambodia) is still waiting for a court to rule on the legality of the transaction. Huawei’s lawyer, Kuoy Thunna, filed a letter late last month ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020661207/Business/mfone-transfer-questioned.html
Cambodia boosts attraction of foreign visitors in 2013
Cambodian Tourism Minister H.E. Dr. Thong Khon said: Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar had gained high growth of tourist arrival in 2012 for Asean region. “Cambodia is continuing its work including promotion to the outside world to attract tourists to see the country.” he said this week. ...
'Separatist' farms replaced by RCAF base
A track of land once farmed by 1,000 families in Kratie province — families violently evicted amid claims they were part of a separatist movement — is now home to a military base. Unit 9 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces base, which will be finished later this ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020661212/National/separatist-farms-replaced-by-rcaf-base.html
Ambition Trumps Reality in Investment Figures
Since 2008, a whopping $28 billion worth of investments has been pledged by local and international firms looking to set up luxury hotels, a new airport and even Cambodia’s first horse racing venue. But a closer look at the list of investments approved by the Cambodian ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/ambition-trumps-reality-in-investment-figures-9387/
Cambodia peddling bikes in EU
Import duties and limits, as well as rising wages in neighbouring countries, made Cambodia the second largest exporter of bicycles to the European Union after Taiwan, an industry newsletter reports. According to Bike-EU.com, which quoted data from Eurostat, Cambodia exported 519,389 units to EU countries between ...
http://www.phpnompenhpost.com/2013020661203/Business/cambodia-peddling-bikes-in-eu.html
Relocation site has villagers worried
Villagers facing relocation from the site of the planned Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province were told last week that they would be moved 15 kilometres from the river they rely on for fishing, a commune chief said yesterday. Seak Mekong, commune chief in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020661210/National/relocation-site-has-villagers-worried.html
Draft Law for Lower Sesan Dam Details Plans for Compensation
A draft law on the financing of a controversial dam project in Stung Treng province obtained yesterday shows that about $38 million will be spent on the resettlement of almost 800 families. This marks a significant decrease from the more than 1,000 families the companies ...
National Land Program Dropped Communal Titles
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s land-titling scheme announced in June originally included a directive for granting collective property titles to indigenous communities, but this part of the program was scrapped weeks later as it was deemed too costly and time-consuming, documents obtained yesterday show. For “indigenous ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-land-program-dropped-communal-titles-9480/
The great mobile shake-out
Mobile phone subscribers in Cambodia have had little to complain about in recent years. With six new operators entering the market since 2006, the result was oversaturation and an all-out price war as eight operators fought for a foothold in a country with fewer than ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/334187/the-great-mobile-shake-out
Cambodian rice millers to boost exports
Rice millers and exporters are optimistic that they will see an increase in exports this year after they received higher orders toward the end of 2012, producers said yesterday. Toch Tepech, president of the Svay Rieng Rice Millers Association, told the Post he had exported over ...