News

Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng has sought to reassure residents of Koh Rong, an island off the coast of Preah Sihanouk province that has been leased to a local tycoon, that they would not be adversely affected by planned development projects. ...

The Royal Group, in partnership with a Thailand-based Swiss investor, will build a 148-room five-star hotel on Preah Sihanouk’s Koh Rong island, with the group having completed a ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday. ...

Cambodian conglomerate Royal Group yesterday signed a $1.5 billion memorandum of understanding with Chinese conglomerate Herun Group to establish a real estate development company in Cambodia, invest in other sectors, and possibly list units of Royal Group on stock exchanges in China, executives from the ...

More than 200 villagers living on the fringe of a giant hydropower project in Stung Treng province are lobbying for their commune’s police chief to be removed, alleging that he habitually confiscates illegally logged wood from villagers on behalf of powerful business interests. ...

Work is expected to begin in September on initial repairs to the Northern line which links the capital Phnom Penh with Sisophon, 40 km from the border with Thailand.The government has agreed to provide US$33m to support what it terms ‘emergency repairs’ on the 386 ...

Villagers living downstream from the controversial Lower Sesan II hydropower project have claimed that they contracted unusual skin ailments causing large black spots on their bodies after the firm building the dam drained industrial waste into a river they use for bathing. Cambodia’s Royal Group, a ...

Three CNRP lawmakers have issued a letter urging the government to decline a request by tycoon Kith Meng’s Royal Group company to claim rights over a former sports stadium in Battambang province. ...

Ethnic minority villagers who live in the planned reservoir zone of the Lower Sesan II hydropower project along the Sesan and Srepok rivers have said they will not move from their homes unless the dam company and authorities pay for the removal of their ancestors’ ...

Cambodia’s largest hydropower project has been redesigned, leading to concerns from environmental groups, but a company official who confirmed the “design optimisation” over the weekend insisted that the Lower Sesan II dam will provide clean, safe energy and have few downstream impacts. Ren Zhonghua, deputy director ...

Hundreds of indigenous villagers on Monday threatened to continue protests against the developer of a controversial hydropower dam in Cambodia if it does not halt construction of the project, which they say will negatively affect their cultural traditions and livelihoods. ...

Deep in the forest, about an hour from Stung Treng’s provincial capital through a rough and difficult road, just over half of the houses in an ethnic minority village have been tagged with bright orange spray paint saying, “LSS2”. According to a 2010 environmental impact ...

Communities living close to the Lower Sesan II dam site in Stung Treng province have called on the government to publicly disclose what compensation they will receive. Logging continues as the area is cleared ahead of construction, but those who will be forced to leave their ...

Villagers whose homes will be destroyed if the controversial Lower Sesan 2 Dam is built are to deliver today a letter to provincial authorities announcing that they refuse to be resettled. Meach Mean, coordinator of the 3S Rivers Protection Network, said the villagers, who hail from ...

On the Sesan and Srepok rivers in the northeast, boats of all shapes and sizes lug timber back and forth between the banks. Men wait on craggy land alongside the water with jerry-rigged winches and homemade vehicles to drag precious cargo up steep inclines. Fallen ...

ANZ has ruled out helping hundreds of poor Cambodian families forcibly evicted from their land to make way for sugar-cane plantations that involved child labour and led to food shortages. Fairfax Media this year revealed confidential audits that disclosed that ANZ’s Cambodian subsidiary, ANZ Royal Bank, ...

ANZ is facing calls for compensation over its funding of a Cambodian sugar mill linked to child labour, forced evictions and land grabs. Media reports on Monday said hundreds of Cambodian farmers had called on the bank to provide compensation for the land they lost due ...

US-listed firm Nord Anglia Education has taken over the management of Northbridge International School, the education provider announced earlier this month. Nord Anglia, which currently operates 29 schools stretching from the US to the Middle East, to China, on July 10 took over the day-to-day operations ...

Villagers who will be displaced if the controversial Lower Sesan II dam is built called on the developers yesterday to postpone construction for five years, allowing time for a comprehensive resettlement scheme to be devised. But a government official dismissed their request as “beyond the pale”, ...

Cambodia’s energy minister allayed concerns in parliament over inadequate compensation offered to villagers who face relocation for a proposed China-backed dam on a Mekong River tributary, saying the government has allocated to villagers more than four times the area taken over for the project. Minister of ...

FLAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has not lost its interest in pursuing a joint-venture agreement with Royal Group of Cambodia (RGC) to establish Cambodia Airlines Co. Ltd.  PAL President Ramon S. Ang confirmed that his airline’s discussions for investment in the Cambodian carrier are ongoing, as ...

Two draft laws on judicial reform were easily passed by the single-party National Assembly on Friday but the session was overshadowed by a rookie lawmaker’s attack on lax enforcement of forestry laws in Stung Treng province. On the fourth day of the third plenary session of ...

Rights groups are calling out the Australian government for being “curiously absent” from discussions about further compensation for thousands of families affected by a railway rehabilitation project that it co-funded with the Asian Development Bank. The bank has borne the brunt of criticism over botched resettlement ...

The Phnong ethnic minority in Mondulkiri province have heard the promises of development before. With increasing investment and the selling off of the region’s forests will come new roads and schools, they are told. But people in this ancient community, tired of seeing their sacred forests handed ...

Telecommunications companies say they are being left in the dark on the controversial draft law on cybercrime, despite provisions in the proposed law allowing prosecutors to order internet service providers to preserve data for them as part of criminal investigations. Three large telecom firms providing internet ...