News

Government officials met with more than 200 Phnom Penh families on Friday to lay out the state’s case for ownership of their land and the compensation they can expect when they are evicted from their homes situated along the city’s railway tracks. The $142 million project ...

Poipet City authorities have given dozens of families living along a section of railway slated for renovation 10 days to move or face forcible eviction. Poipet City Deputy Governor An Vanak said that the eviction notice was sent Monday to about 40 families, only eight of ...

Less than four months after suspending work on Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network, Toll Royal Railways (TRR), the network’s operator, has informed the government that it will recommence transporting construction materials needed to build the southern line on Aug. 1, company officials said yesterday. The decision to ...

The Australian Embassy conceded that problems have plagued the relocation process of about 160 families moved to Trapeang Anhchanh on the outskirts of Phnom Penh last September. The families were moved for a railway rehabilitation project partially funded by the Australian government’s AusAID. “We agree on the ...

Adding to a growing body of research into the flaws of Cambodia’s $142 million railway rehabilitation project, a report published yesterday said soaring debt levels are crippling families forcibly relocated by the project. In the report by land rights organization Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), researchers tracked ...

The Australian government yesterday said it has been aware of poor working conditions and inappropriate surveying methods used on Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project since February and had ordered that the project’s partners investigate the matters. “The Australian Government was alerted to possible concerns about workplace health ...

The rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network has encountered delays due to poor construction work and inappropriate surveying methods when making plans to lay down tracks, according to a draft review of the ongoing $140 million project conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ...

With funds almost exhausted on the $140 million rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railway network, the government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have decided to conduct a study to determine how much more money is needed to complete the project, a government consultant said yesterday. Paul Power, ...

The unclear future of Cambodia’s national railway, following Toll Royal Railways’ suspension of operations on March 31, has cast doubt not only on the oft-delayed redevelopment project but also on a larger build-out expected to connect much of Asia. Toll Royal, a joint venture by Australian ...

Poipet City authorities have issued eviction notices to those living alongside a section of railway that is earmarked for renovation, telling the families to move within 10 days or risk loss of property. The villagers said yesterday they received the eviction announcement only one day before ...

The contractor in charge of rebuilding Cambodia’s national railway has been cutting corners on the health and safety of its workers, according to a report published yesterday by the Asian Development Bank. TSO-AS & Nawarath, a French-Thai joint venture, was reportedly found to have grossly violated ...

Toll Group has informed the Cambodian government that it will suspend all railway operations and lay off half of its Cambodian staff at the end of the month, according to a source familiar with the situation. The Australian logistics firm, which in partnership with Royal Group ...

Australian transportation solutions provider Toll Holdings remained silent yesterday on whether it would be pulling out of its 30-year contract to operate Cambodia’s railway system. In a report published on Tuesday, the Sydney Morning Herald cited “reliable sources in Cambodia” as saying that the company would ...

Australian logistics company Toll Group is allegedly pulling out of its 30-year concession to operate the Kingdom’s national railway, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Citing “reliable sources”, an SMH report said Toll would leave its US$145 million Toll Royal Railway joint venture with Cambodia’s Royal ...

Sihanoukville Autonomous Port saw a 10 per cent year-on-year shipment increase in the first 11 months of the year, according to data provided by the Port’s general director. The shipment of cargo across the port during the time period reached 2.2 million tons, a 9.94 per ...

Representatives from Cambodia and Thailand yesterday agreed to a 2013 completion date for a railway link from Phnom Penh across the Cambodia-Thailand border crossing at Poipet. Outdated agreements had delayed the project, Thai officials said. Insiders have also said disagreements over cross-border trade have kept the ...

A Chinese railway company may conduct a feasibility study on a 700-kilometre rail line in northern Cambodia, officials and local media reported yesterday. Officials from Nanning Survey and Design Institute Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China Railway Siyuan Group, discussed the study with the Ministry of ...

Bridges Across Borders Cambodia yesterday accused the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid) of white-washing conditions at relocation sites for families being evicted by a $142 million railway rehabilitation project being funded largely with their money ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) met yesterday with the representatives of families evicted or facing eviction to make way for an ADB-funded railway project, and defended itself against complaints that the project was pushing some of them deeper into poverty. The ADB has billed the $142 ...

The rail link to Vietnam from Cambodia has been estimated at $686 million dollars. The link would finally connect Singapore to Kunming, China. The $686 million does not include compensation for those who link along the proposed railway locations and no funding has been confirmed ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railways will not be at the expense of those who live along the lines and has pledged to address the issue. Resettlement has been a problem for the rehabilitation but a new plan ...

The Asian Development Bank announced yesterday that the organizations behind the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railways, including the government and the Australian development agency, have jointly pledged to address the complaints of people facing eviction from dwellings across the rail lines. The Australian government provided ...