News
Minister of Transport Says He Knows Little About Railway Project
The minister of transport, who on Monday watched over the signing of a deal between two Chinese companies to build a 400-km railway, yesterday said the government has minimal knowledge of the project. Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek said, however, that he did not know ...
Locals in the Dark to Chinese Rail Project
With two Chinese firms due to start work on a 400-km railway, steel mill and port in July, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) has yet to be conducted, and affected provinces are still largely in the dark about the massive infrastructure project. In a ceremony in ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/locals-in-the-dark-to-chinese-rail-project-7128/
Cambodian, Chinese firms sign deal to build railway, seaport
A Cambodian company and a Chinese firm on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to build a railway and a seaport in Cambodia to serve iron and steel mining industry. The deal was inked between Zhang Chuan You, general manager of Cambodia Iron ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-12/31/c_132074231.htm
Hun Sen Encourages Cambodians to Emulate Chinese-Style Wealth
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday encouraged Cambodians to strive for Chinese-style millionaire status as he inaugurated a sugar refinery located inside two controversial plantations belonging to CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat and his wife in Kompong Speu province. “I have one clear policy in strengthening the ...
In Koh Kong land fight, volunteers requested
More than 30 representatives of families who claim a dispute piece of land in Koh Kong province went to provincial hall for the second time yesterday and submitted an official request to allow Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteer corps to measure the area. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012122760493/National/in-koh-kong-land-fight-volunteers-requested.html
Single visa with Cambodia to be discussed
Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong will co-chair the meeting in Bangkok on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss several issues, including the single-visa initiative. The idea of a joint visa for visitors to both Thailand and Cambodia has been mooted as a ...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Single-visa-with-Cambodia-to-be-discussed-30196550.html
China is top dam builder, going where others won't
Up a sweeping jungle valley in a remote corner of Cambodia, Chinese engineers and workers are raising a 100-meter- (330-foot-) high dam over the protests of villagers and activists. Only Chinese companies are willing to tame the Tatay and other rivers of Koh Kong province, ...
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/12/18/2809176/china-is-top-dam-builder-going.html#storylink=rss
Cameras blocked by cops: CCHR
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights says that a company with a controversial economic land concession in Koh Kong province banned the centre’s officers from photographing the area and ordered police to grab their cameras. Officers from CCHR traveled to Sre Ambel district on December 14 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012121960362/National/cameras-blocked-by-cops-cchr.html
Cambodian PM vows to protect environment
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday he decided to choose environment protection, not to choose 30 billion U.S. dollar expected revenues from the exploitation of titanium ore in Southwestern Cambodia. “According to a feasibility study, titanium ore deposit in Chhiphat district in Koh Kong province ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-12/17/c_132046623.htm
Lawmakers Reject Petition
Lawmakers from Cambodia’s ruling party on Monday refused to accept a petition from hundreds of people who held a rally calling for the government’s help in resolving land disputes, drawing criticism from activists who questioned the effectiveness of the country’s parliament. The appeal, which contained more ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/petition-12172012164439.html
Yazaki Opens Auto Parts Factory in Cambodia
Japanese auto parts maker Yazaki Corp. opened a wire harness factory in Cambodia on Monday, which President Yasuhiko Yazaki said will create about 600 jobs in the country immediately. The $24 million plant is in Koh Kong Province about 270 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh. ...
http://www.pddnet.com/news/2012/12/yazaki-opens-auto-parts-factory-cambodia
Official says resettlement sites are good for development
Widely different interpretations of the government’s land policy were voiced at a conference on Land Security and Housing Rights on Thursday in Phnom Penh, with civil servants defending mass relocations, while rural evictees spoke of being forced into poverty due to loss of their land. ...
Thai Rights Commission to Publish Report on Sugar Plantations
A final report from Thailand’s human rights commission on the alleged rights violations of a Thai company involved in two Cambodian sugar plantations is expected by late January, a member of the commission said. In July, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand said its investigation ...
China plans to invest $5 billion to develop sea port, eco-tourism, and airport in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH: Chinese Union Group and the government of Cambodia plan to ink MoU of construction of mega-development projects in Koh Kong province, southern part of Cambodia. Environment minister Mok Mareth made the announcement upon arrival from China, where he attended APEC meeting in Tainjin on ...
Logging Reporter Arrested
Cambodian authorities arrest a journalist who exposed the illegal smuggling of timber. Taing Try, a reporter affiliated with the Khmer Democratic Journalists’ Association, was taken into custody on Friday, police in Kratie’s Snoul district told RFA on Sunday. But Ing Savoeun, a representative from the ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/reporter-12102012174729.html
Government Defends Chinese Dams
Following a dam breach in Pursat province, ruling CPP lawmakers yesterday defended the government’s primary plan to tackle its energy crisis by contracting Chinese companies to build hydropower dams on the country’s rivers. A section of concrete tunnel at the Stung Atai dam in Pursat province ...
Two More Families Drop Sugar Suit for Cash Payout
CPP Senator and business tycoon Ly Yong Phat has convinced to more families in Koh Kong province to take a cash payout in exchange for dropping out of a lawsuit involving two local sugarcane plantations he once co-owned, official said. More that 200 families in Sre ...
Japanese auto supplier sets to launch auto parts factory in Cambodia
A Tokyo-based auto supplier, the Yazaki Corporation, has completed the construction of an automotive electronics and instrument plant in Cambodia and the production will be launched later this month, a company representative said Wednesday. Speaking during a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the ...
Mixed results for oil firm's search off coast
The first well drilled by a major Chinese company looking for oil and gas in Cambodian waters has been completed, though hydrocarbons in the firms offshore block are proving elusive, an official at the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) has said. ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mixed-results-for-oil-firms-search-off-coast-6489/
Cambodia's mangroves under threat
Cambodia’s vital southern mangrove systems are choking as rising sea levels, agitated by climate change, inundate them with sand, while sand dredging sucks them dry of sediment, a study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has found. Stressed by a host of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012120560112/National-news/mangroves-threatened.html
Power projects aim to generate 4,000 megawatts by 2020
The government is carrying out 18 power projects to generate more than 4,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020, according to the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy. In its annual report, the ministry says Cambodia consumed 2,788 million kilowatt/hours in 2011. Thailand and Vietnam supplied 1,765 ...
Rare hardwood sparks gunfights, corruption in Asia
KOH KONG, CAMBODIA — A Thai force dubbed the “Rambo Army” couldn’t stop the gangs, armed with battlefield weaponry, as they scoured the forests. Neither could a brave activist, gunned down when he came to investigate. Nor, apparently, can governments across Southeast Asia. The root of the ...
http://www.bradenton.com/2012/11/24/4291081/rare-hardwood-sparks-gunfights.html
Grassroots Forum Issues Demands Ahead of Asean
The Asean Grassroots People’s Assembly (AGPA) agreed yesterday on a list of demands it intends to present to the Cambodian and regional governments. A crowd of more than 2,000 people-including garment factory workers, victims of evictions, and sex workers, as well as undercover police-gathered at Phnom ...
China's Aid to Cambodia Helps Cement Ties
When Asia-Pacific leaders gather this weekend in Southeast Asia—a bright spot in a sputtering global economy—their Cambodian hosts may extend a warm welcome to U.S. President Barack Obama, but they will view officials from Beijing as old friends. Mr. Obama’s visit to Cambodia—this year’s host for ...
Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324595904578120582308358540.html