News

The Venerable Sann Leang, executive director of NGO Environmental More than 500 villagers held a march in eastern Cambodia Friday to protest a controversial dam project on the Mekong River in Laos they say is undergoing construction despite a pledge to halt progress while officials ...

The owner of a site in Phnom Penh where a 19th century French colonial building was demolished last week said yesterday she does not have enough money to follow through on plans to build a replica in its place. Kang Gheck Nai said it had always ...

Australia’s Fairfax media has obtained a leaked official report into a troubled and controversial Cambodian rail project being funded by AusAID and the Asian Development Bank. The report outlines poor construction, botched surveys leading to the evictions of families ...

A delegation of Chinese officials yesterday donated two airplanes and signed an agreement to provide Cambodia with loans for a new hydropower dam in Battambang and the renovation of two national roads. The deals were made during a meeting in Phnom Penh between He Guoqiang, a ...

The cargo of merchandises including clothes, agriculture products, construction, electronics and other products through the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) has increased 10 percent in the first five months of this year in comparison to the same period last year, according to PPAP’s statistics. ...

Considering the growth potential of US$400-million worth in bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Cambodia for the past five years, the British Trade and Investment office plans to establish its permanent branch in Phnom Penh. British companies are eyeing investment opportunities in education, construction and ...

Every day they come in the thousands and crowd under a blazing sun for hours, awaiting a moment that costs them more than two full months’ salary – a passport. And where are they going? “Thailand,” 21-year-old Sem Pheaktra said, squinting under a harsh mid-morning sun. He, and ...

In what is becoming an increasingly popular – and coordinated – protest tactic among Phnom Penh’s dispossessed, several women took off their shirts and bras during a demonstration over land rights that briefly turned violent near the World Bank yesterday. About 100 protesters, most of them ...

Villagers and police clashed Sunday after excavators moved in to prepare work on a disputed plot where authorities will build a CPP commune office in Stung Treng City’s Preah Bat commune, officials said yesterday. Hou Sam Ol, provincial monitor for local rights group Adhoc, said Stung ...

The controversial Xayaburi hydro-electric dam project in northern Laos may have already begun, despite countries, including Cambodia, requesting further studies to assess possible negative effects on Lower Mekong communities.Thai development firm Ch.Karnchang said it was due to begin building the dam on March 15 after finalising a ...

A tycoon arrested on Tuesday by military police on fraud charges yesterday walked free after striking a deal with the man he defrauded, court officials said. Meas Chanpiseth, deputy prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said that 52-year-old tycoon Peang Kosal, executive director of the ...

Amid safety fears in the construction industry, authorities yesterday refused to reveal the owner of a brand-new industrial building that crashed to the ground in Phnom Penh on Sunday, just days before hundreds were to have set foot in it. Sen Sok district governor Khoun Sreng ...

Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow 6.5 per cent in 2012, up from 5.75 per cent last year, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual review, adding that government policies to boost the investment climate were paying off. However, in its assessment, which was released ...

The Ministry of Land Management is giving a brief reprieve to non-government groups and donor partners who missed yesterday’s deadline to comment on a draft sub-decree aiming to guide and regulate the country’s urban development. After making the Sub-Decree on Urban Planning and Town Areas public ...

A PROTEST on the fifth storey of a residential high-rise in Borei Keila ended with authorities fleeing the scene and incensed villagers breaking down a door yesterday. About 50 villagers converged on the site to protest against Phan Imex and authorities evicting a man from his ...

The Ministry of Land Management and Urban Planning announced yesterday that it will soon complete a new draft sub-decree that aims to guide and regulate urban development in towns and cities. Land and human rights groups, however, criticized the ministry for failing to consult them on ...

Following their fourth protest in as many weeks, residents of Phnom Penh’s displaced Borei Keila community yesterday reached a tentative housing agreement with development firm Phanimex, company and village representatives said yesterday. The meeting came after a protest yesterday morning in which more than 100 residents ...

More than 100 Borei Keila villagers took to the streets yesterday to demand that Phanimex Company owner Suy Sophan honour a contract signed in 2003 that promised housing for 1,776 families in exchange for land. The protesters, holding banners, statues of the spirit and a pig’s ...

Seventy-one out of 89 National Assembly lawmakers yesterday voted to approve the construction of a coal power plant in Preah Sihanouk province by a company run by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and his daughter, and licensed the plant to sell electricity to Electricite du ...

With no restart date in sight more than a year after construction halted on the $240 million Gold Tower 42, investors said yesterday they were forming an association to demand that their deposits be refunded if construction does not resume. Chhin Jintong, who put down a ...

The Constructors Association (C.A.) was officially formed on October 7th with an aim to develop the country’s construction and real estate sector. The C.A. launching ceremony was presided over by Senior Minister and Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction H.E. Im Chhun Lim. ...

Foreign direct investment in the Kingdom soared 250 per cent year-on-year through August even despite the West’s economic woes, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said yesterday. A total of 87 projects worth US$5.6 billion were approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia during the ...

The dollar figure on government-approved investments in construction for the first eight months of the year increased by 92 per cent compared to the same period in 2010, according to official statistics. The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction approved 1,470 construction projects worth ...

Construction of a US$1.6 billion satellite city on Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar peninsula will begin this year after officials inked a contract yesterday with local firm Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC). Dubbed “City of the Future”, the project would include a national stadium, a 60-hectare park, ...