China’s Erdos Hongjun planned to build a bauxite processing plant in Kratie province as part of the company’s US$1.5 billion venture in the Kingdom’s northeast, provincial officials said yesterday.
The plant would serve Erdos’s mine in neighbouring Mondulkiri, an exploration licence for which was granted by the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, according to a list of mining companies operating in the province obtained by the Post…
Consumer prices in the Kingdom rose about five per cent year-on-year in October, according to the National Institute of Statistics, though they held steady from September.
Declining food and fuel prices, along with an appreciating US dollar, were listed as the main reasons for the stabilisation last month, officials said.
“We noticed that we got more supplies of fish, meat and some other foods despite the floods,” which helped to ease food costs, National Institute of Statistics deputy director-general Khin Song said yesterday…
Female workers were rushed to hospital in a second mass fainting yesterday at Su Tong Fang Ying Kam garment factory in Russey Keo district, unionists said.
About 17 female workers became overwhelmed with diesel fumes from their sewing machines and were rushed to Calmette Hospital, where seven of their co-workers are still being treated after Monday’s mass fainting, Ben Sreyleak of the Free Trade Union said…
About 60 businessmen from Kompong Cham province protested at the Agriculture Ministry yesterday over Prime Minister Hun Sen’s decision to cancel their bids to operate fishing lots.
Mr Hun Sen on Friday annulled the results of an October bidding process for companies interested in operating fishing lots after it was discovered that government officials had fixed the process to ensure that certain companies won the lucrative lots…
Police and military police stopped about 200 villagers from entering rice fields in Battambang province yesterday, saying they had no right to harvest in the 100-hectare area because it belonged to well-known businessman Song Thon, villagers said.
Chhut Mao, a 64-year-old village representative of Lvea commune, Bavel district, said police had threatened to destroy their crops on land they had farmed for five years. Villagers believed the only way to stand up to authorities was to use violence, he added…
Workers and managers at Cambo Handsome 1 garment factory were continuing discussions last night after a fourth day of protest in which union leaders said more than 20 employees were injured in a confrontation with police.
The workers are protesting against the suspension of three union leaders at the Korean-owned facility, which was triggered by the alleged theft by a union leader last Friday of two T-shirts bound for outlets of The Gap.
“The talks could go late and resume in the morning,” David Kim, an executive at Hansoll Textile’s Seoul headquarters, told the Post yesterday afternoon. Hansoll, which has garment factories in seven countries, owns Cambo Handsome Ltd, which has five factories in Cambodia, employing more than 7,000 workers in total, according to Hansoll…
Six Oddar Meanchey villagers were arrested Monday afternoon while attempting to cross into Thailand to illegally log rosewood in the same area where three loggers were shot and killed by Thai authorities last week, officials said yesterday…
In a separate case, two loggers were reported missing since Sunday after being fired at by Thai soldiers…
And in yet another case, officials and the families of the three men killed last week said they have been unable to negotiate a return of the bodies with Thai authorities…
The Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA) plans to propose a set of measures to the government that would put the association in charge of improving protection for Cambodian maids working in Malaysia.
A human rights worker, however, disapproved of the plan because it only involved the business association, which he said has done little to protect workers in the past…
Environmental Group World Wildlife Fund yesterday called on the four member governments of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to shelve Laos’ proposal to build the first Lower Mekong River hydropower dam when the countries meet next week in Siem Reap province.
Las has planned numerous dams in a bid to boost its economy, and late last year it informed fellow MRC members Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand of its proposal to build the 1,260-megawatt Xayaburi project, which would be the first Lower Mekong dam…
Prison directors across the country said yesterday they were eager to launch for-profit manufacturing programs following the expected passage of a controversial prison law that legalizes such schemes. Human rights groups, however, called on the government to strike the provision, saying that it would violate Cambodia’s obligations under international labor law.
Heads of prison in Takhmau, Battambang and Takeo said they had plans to partner with sub-contractors and manufacturers to create garment-manufacturing programs. In Sihanoukville and Battambang provincial prisons, directors said they were already running such programs, despite requests by the Ministry of Commerce and International Labor Organization (ILO) to halt them…
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged four female Boeng Kak lake residents with insulting police and obstructing public officials during a protest that turned violent on Monday. Earlier in the day, dozens of residents were blocked by riot police from leaving the lake area, resulting in a second day of clashes with police.
Kong Chantha, Bo Chhorvy, Heng Mom and Tep Vanny were arrested separately on Monday during a series of violent clashes with police outside City Hall on Monivong Boulevard.
The protesting residents are demanding that 94 Boeng Kak lake families be included in a 12.44-hectare plot of land that Prime Minister Hun Sen said would be set aside for residents who are refusing to be evicted from the lake area. No reason has been given for the exclusion of the 94 families from the prime minister’s deal…
Ratings agency Moody’s kept the outlook on Cambodia’s government debt at stable, though the firm said that the risk of default was still high and had raised concerns over the country’s ability to manage its finances.
In a report released on Sunday, Moody’s said that Cambodia’s credit rating remained unchanged at B2, a level that designates a country able to meet its financial commitments though open to risk in the case of adverse business, financial or economic conditions.
Moody’s also confirmed that Cambodia’s debt levels – as of the end of 2010 – stood at 44.3 percent of gross domestic product, or $52 billion. That amount stands in contrast to debt figures that have been cited recently by Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior officials from within the ruling CPP, which range from $2 billion to $7 billion…
Cambodia aimed to become one of the region’s main rubber producers over the next few years despite the industry’s low international recognition, officials said during the second Global Rubber Conference, held in Phnom Penh on Friday.
To that end, the Kingdom had encouraged companies and investors to expand production capacity, Ly Phalla, director-general of the General Directorate of Rubber Plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said.
But the government also sought to catalyse so-called downstream operations, which comprised value-added manufacturing using home-grown rubber, to slow the rate of exports from Cambodia, he said…
In what is becoming an all too familiar tale, another mother of a domestic worker who was sent to Malaysia has filed a complaint alleging her daughter is being exploited.
Chea Si Yan said yesterday she wanted her daughter and goddaughter to come home because they have been forced to work almost constantly with inadequate meals and were deprived of any freedom since they were sent to Malaysia in March…
A mother whose family face eviction from their home at Boeung Kak lake was farewelled at a funeral on Saturday evening, hours after her body was found in the Mekong River.
Chea Dara’s body was identified by family members on Saturday in Samraong Thum commune, Kien Svay district, Kandal province, after three boys fishing in Samraong Thum commune earlier reported seeing a body floating there.
Chea Dara’s husband, Doeur Phou, told the Post on Thursday that his wife had jumped off the Chruoy Changva bridge because authorities had condemned their family to homelessness…
Police and military officials were searching for six missing Cambodians yesterday who villagers believe were shot dead by Thai soldiers on Saturday night after entering the Khun Han district of Thailand’s Si Saket province in search of luxury timber.
Neth Hing, who lives in Oddar Meanchey’s Trapaing Prasath district, told the Post that 13 people showed up at her doorstep yesterday morning, telling her they were survivors of a group of 19 Cambodians who had entered Thailand via the Thmor Pres border crossing.
“They came to [my home] this morning about 11:00. They fled because of shooting; they said that six people died,” Neth Hing said. “They said this [while] they were sitting [at my house].”
Speaking with the Post yesterday evening, Keo San, police chief of Trapaing Prasat district, confirmed that the shooting had occurred but could not confirm if the six in question had been killed…
After discovering that government officials had fixed a bidding process for companies interested in operating fishing lots on the Mekong River, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday annulled the results of the bidding and rescheduled it for next year.
Speaking at a plenary session at the Council of Ministers, Mr Hun Sen said that next year’s bidding process would now be monitored by the Anti-Corruption Unit to make sure that only the most competitive companies win the licenses to operate lucrative fish breeding lots…
Hundreds of students attending a forum yesterday on plans of regional governments to develop hydropower dams on the Mekong River expressed concern over the river’s future, and they urged the governments to abandon the projects or proceed with caution.
The forum in Phnom Penh was the first among several campaign events that have been scheduled ahead of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) meeting in Siem Reap on December 7 to 9, when Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam will decide whether or not to support Laos’ 1,260-megawatt Xayaburi project, which would be the first Mekong dam…
Cambodia has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation, ranking ninth among 180 countries in terms of forest loss during the past decade, according to a new study, which said that economic land concessions and illegal logging were the primary cause for the demise of the country’s forests.
The report ranked Cambodia just above Brazil, while Nigeria, Indonesia and North Korea lead the Deforestation Index 2012, which was released last week by Maplecroft, a UK-based firm that provides global assessments on social, environmental and political issues…
Cambodia’s total exports rose more than 40 per cent year-on-year through October, carried by strong growth in agriculture shipments.
Total exports reached US$4.05 billion in the first 10 months of 2011 compared with $2.82 billion during the same period last year, an increase of 44 per cent, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.
Agricultural exports hit $330 million, more than doubling year-on-year, according to the data. Garment exports totalled $3.47 billion, increasing about 34 per cent. Trade preferences, including duty-free treatment, on garment exports to the European Union accounted for a 60 per cent jump in garment shipments to countries in the union…
