China’s aid vital to Cambodia: finance minister
May 7th, 2013, Global Times, Economics, Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, International Relations
China’s assistance to Cambodia is very important for the country’s economic and social development, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon said Tuesday. …
He said from 1992 to present, China has provided 2.7 billion U. S. dollars in soft loans and grants to Cambodia for rehabilitating and building infrastructures. …
Xinhua News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/779888.shtml#.UYm2L6Kj2xA
AFD in talks over power lines
May 1st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Electricity, Energy, Foreign Aid, International Relations, News Source, Technical Assistance
The French Development Agency (AFD) said yesterday it is discussing an approximately 50 million euro ($65 million) loan to extend electricity transmission lines, and said it plans to provide more loans for vocational training in the Kingdom.
“We are discussing [the] loan . . . that we could give to EDC [Electricité du Cambodge] for the finance of a 200-kilometres transmission line (high tension) and a 200-kilometres line of medium tension [22KW] in the provinces of Koh Kong (between Koh Kong and Srea Ambel) and between Kampong Cham and Kratie,” Julien Darpoux, program officer for Cambodia and Laos from the French Development Agency, told the Post yesterday. …
Now only 24 to 25 per cent of households in the country have access to electricity, AFD Director André Pouillès-Duplaix said during a press conference. “We have a lot of work to do in this sector.” …
Sarah Thust
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050165342/Business/afd-in-talks-over-power-lines.html
World Bank Blocks Firm After Cambodia Project Probe
April 19th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Domestic Investment, Electricity, Energy, Infrastructure, International Relations, Technical Assistance
A bribery investigation by the World Bank has discovered misconduct by a major Canadian construction firm that was awarded a $5 million contract to help expand access to electricity in rural Cambodia, the bank said. …
In December 2009, SNC-Lavalin announced that it has been awarded an 18-month contract worth $5 million to design and build a national control center and energy management system in Phnom Penh for state-owned power company Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) as part of the donor-funded project.
Referring to both the company’s operations in Bangladesh and Cambodia, the World Bank statement says, “SNC-Lavalin’s misconduct involved a conspiracy to pay bribes and misrepresentations when bidding for Bank-financed contracts in violation of the World Bank’s procurement guidelines.” …
Keo Rotanak, director-general of EdC, declined to comment. However, Chea Sun Hel, director of EdC’s distribution unit, said that the national control center – which is the operational hub for the national grid – had been completed. …
The implementation of the Rural Electrification and Transmission Project – which ran from 2003 to 2012 and cost a total of nearly $68 million – was the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.
Simon Lewis and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-bank-blocks-firm-after-cambodia-project-probe-19199/
Hun Sen Reaches for Ambitious Income Target
April 15th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Foreign Aid, International Relations
Going by the World Bank’s method of grouping nation states by their wealth, Cambodia this year could become a lower-middle income country.
Not satisfied, however, with this graduation—a feat in itself from Cambodia’s position of extreme poverty just two decades ago when gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was $240—the government is already eyeing the next milestone. ..
If this happens, Cambodia could gain membership to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a branch of the World Bank, and give the government access to more capital. As a low-income country, Cambodia has only had access to concessional loans from the World Bank’s International Development Association. …
Government estimates predict that by 2030, Cambodia’s population will have reached 18.4 million, meaning that to achieve an upper-middle income GDP per capita, the total size of the economy would need to top $74 billion.
This would mean the economy multiplying more than five times in 18 years—from its 2012 size of $14.25 billion—and would require GDP growth of more than 9.5 percent annually over the period. …
Simon Lewis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/hun-sen-reaches-for-ambitious-income-target-18766/
China pledges $548 million in aid to ally Cambodia
April 10th, 2013, Reuters, Economics, Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, International Relations
China has pledged another $548 million in aid to Cambodia for infrastructure and irrigation systems, extending assistance that some critics say has bought it Cambodia’s diplomatic support. …
Agreements covering $500 million in soft loans and $48 million in grants were signed when Prime Minister Hun Sen visited China and met Premier Li Keqiang over the weekend, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh told a briefing on Wednesday. …
Chinese investment in Cambodia has totaled $9.1 billion since 1994, including almost $1.2 billion in 2011, eight times more than the United States, according to the Cambodia Investment Board.
Reuters Staff
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/10/us-cambodia-china-idUSBRE93909D20130410
Xi hails ties with Cambodia
April 7th, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Foreign Aid, International Relations, News Source
China-Cambodia relations have become a model of friendly coexistence and close cooperation among countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at an international forum that opened on Sunday.
China and Cambodia are good neighbors, friends, partners and brothers, Xi said while meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2013 in Boao, a coastal town in south China’s Hainan Province. …
The two sides have decided to establish an intergovernmental coordinating committee to carry out the action plan on the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation and push forward bilateral cooperation in all fields, said Xi.
Xi also said China will work with Cambodia to advance China’s relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along the right path. …
Xinhua News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-04/07/c_132290730.htm
1,000 days to go on Millennium Development Goals
April 5th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Economics, International Relations, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
April 5th marks the starting date for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and its partners in Cambodia in observing the milestone of 1,000 days to the end of 2015 which is the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). …
“The MDGs are the most successful global anti-poverty push in history,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “The Goals have helped set global and national priorities, mobilize action, and achieve remarkable results.” …
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=MzVkZTcwZWRkNjY
New Mortgage Program Helps Cambodia’s Poor Find Better Homes
April 4th, 2013, 90.9 WBUR News Station, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Debt Servicing, Economics, Financial Services, Industry, Technical Assistance
If you’ve applied for a mortgage recently, you know how hard it can be. The bank demands all kinds of obscure documents and wants proof of almost every asset you own. But an innovative mortgage program halfway around the world will evaluate your application without any extra documentation — and if you’re approved, it will give you a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. There’s just one catch: The mortgages are only for low-income people in Cambodia. The program is a throwback to the days when bankers got to know their customers — and trusted them. …
Keng and her husband both work. She makes and then sells rice soup at a street stall, while her husband sells clothes at another stall. But they don’t meet one of the crucial requirements for getting a mortgage: They don’t receive salary slips or other financial documents, so they don’t have what bankers call “verifiable income.” …
Late last year, Keng heard about an unusual bank called First Finance, which was designed specifically to give mortgages to low-income people like her. She and her family could already imagine the new home they wanted to buy: a two-story house with indoor plumbing. It would cost about $20,000. …
The First Finance mortgage program in Cambodia was the brainchild of Talmage Payne …
Microfinance, he says, was not the solution. People needed much bigger, long-term loans to buy homes. Payne also says he realized something else that contradicts traditional banking assumptions: Low-income families make great mortgage customers.
Just about everybody in a typical Cambodian family works. The wife might run a market stall, while the husband does day labor.
“Grandma sells peanuts, the kids work,” Payne says.
As a result, many of the families are financially resilient. If one person has to stop working, the others can chip in.
“You’re giving somebody something that they never thought they could have. So no matter what the hardship is, what’s the one bill they’re not going to miss? They’re not going to miss the mortgage,” Payne says. …
Daniel Zwerdling
http://www.wbur.org/npr/176121367/new-mortgage-program-helps-cambodias-poor-find-better-homes
Government Goes to China in Search of New Loans
April 4th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Economics, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Foreign Aid, Foreign Investment, Hydroelectricity, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, Mining, Natural Gas, Oil, Technical Assistance
Prime Minister Hun Sen will travel to China on Saturday to meet with the rising superpower’s new leadership, in a trip the government expects to yield nearly $2 billion in loans and aid.
Most significantly, the Government is hoping to secure Chinese funding for a 1.67 billion oil refinery project in Kampot province, which would ensure China’s prime position in Cambodia’s yet-to-take-off oil industry. …
The statement [from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation] lists eight deals including a memorandum of understanding between the National Bank of Cambodia and China Banking Regulatory Commission, an “agreement on economic and technical cooperation” worth 48.38 million, more than $73 million in concessional loans for an irrigation project in Kompong Thom province and a bridge in Kandal province.
According to the statement, the government also expects to sign a memorandum of understanding on a 5-million-ton-a-year oil refinery project, involving China Development Bank and China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, both Chinese state-owned companies, to the tune of $1.67 billion.
China’s development bank is known as one of China’s “policy banks”- meaning that it gives loans in support of Chinese foreign policy. Such banks have funded Chinese-built hydropower dams in Cambodia.
In December, China Perfect Machinery Industry Corp.- which is majority owned by state-owned industrial giant SINOMACH- and Cambodian Petrochemical Company- which is chaired by cigarette magnate Kong Triv- agreed that work would begin on the oil refinery this year. …
Two Chinese companies, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China Petrotech Holdings ltd., have been grated exploration blocks off Cambodia’s coat to search for oil and gas. …
Simon Lewis and Phorn Bopha, P.1
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-goes-to-china-in-search-of-loans-17314/
Hun Sen wants more Australian investors
April 3rd, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Foreign Investment, International Relations, Technical Assistance
The Prime Minister appealed Wednesday to Australian investors to increase their investments in Cambodia, especially in the agriculture and the tourism sectors.
The comments were made during a meeting with the outgoing Australian Ambassador to Cambodia, Penny Richards, at the Peace Palace. …
He said, because of the cooperation, Australia had increased their grants from $60 mln to $80 mln per year for agriculture, health, infrastructure and the judicial sectors in Cambodia. …
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YzFhMzAxN2QzNDZ
Bids called on Cambodia rail link
April 2nd, 2013, Bangkok Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Foreign Aid, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Technical Assistance
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) will call an e-auction on April 10 on work to renovate damaged tracks connecting Thailand with Cambodia at the Aranyaprathet-Poipet crossing, Transport Minister Chadchat Suttipan said on Tuesday. …
The railway agency estimated the project will cost 2.8 billion baht. It will include rehabilitation of the six kilometres of tracks from Aranyaprathet station to Klong Luek, opposite Poipet district in Cambodia, and improvement of the existing tracks from Klong Sip Kao station to Aranyaprathet.
A bridge between Klong Luek and Poipet must be improved, and negotiations will take place with Cambodia on possible cost-sharing of the construction, the minister added. …
The one-metre gauge tracks will connect with the Cambodian railway to Phnom Penh and onward to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Cambodia is improving its 337km line from Phnom Penh to Poipet, expected to be completed some time between next year and 2015, according to the Phnom Penh Post.
The project is financed by a loan from the Asian Development Bank, and also includes the 256km line linking Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. The line was reopened in December last year.
Bangkok Post Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/343563/thailand-to-open-bid-to-rebuild-tracks-with-cambodia
Development Could Mean Loss of EU Trade Preference, Ambassador Says
April 1st, 2013, VOA, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Farming, International Relations, Rice, Technical Assistance, Trade
Cambodia could see less preferential economic treatment by Europe in coming years, as it graduates as a more developed country, the EU’s ambassador to Cambodia says.
In an interview with VOA Khmer in Phnom Penh, Ambassador Jean-Francois Cautain said Cambodia currently enjoys tariff exemptions under a scheme called Anything But Arms, which seeks to promote trade with lesser developed countries. But Cambodia’s status under that scheme could change soon with its growing economy, he said. …
The threshold for a nation to meet Least Developed Country status is a per capita gross domestic product of $1,000. Cambodia is currently at $900, with an economy growing nearly 7 percent per year. Cautain said other factors, such as a country’s openness and human capital also influence its status. …
Cambodia also needs to diversify its economy. Most of its exports come from garments, “which is OK, but not enough,” Cautain said. Better agriculture, including in the rice sector, is needed, he said. That means building the capacity to process rice in country, rather than exporting paddy rice to its neighbors.
Good governance and reduced corruption would also help, the ambassador said. In these areas, “there’s still a lot of work to do.” An improved environment would increase foreign direct investment. European investors are still not comfortable coming to Cambodia, which is still in a transition phase, where trade is supported by donors. That means there is a good basis from which Cambodia can develop itself, he said.
Theara Khoun
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/development-could-mean-loss-of-eu-trade-preference/1631336.html
Chinese Investments in Cambodia Ignore Environment Queries
March 29th, 2013, The Irrawaddy Magazine, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Economics, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Foreign Aid, Foreign Investment, Hydroelectricity, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance, Timber/Wood, Water
China’s expanding investment portfolio in Cambodia has brought into sharper focus the darker side of the Asian giant’s “development projects” in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.
And it is in the southwestern corner of Cambodia—known for its rich biodiversity, forest covered hills and bubbling rivers—where this Chinese economic footprint is leaving a defining mark. A plan to build a 400 km-long railway line through this rugged green terrain is the most recent Chinese addition to growing list that has alarmed Cambodian environmentalists. …
Environment Minister Mok Mareth reportedly told the Cambodia Daily newspaper in an interview at the time that the paperwork had not included an environment impact assessment (EIA).
The same publication had also got Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek to affirm in an interview that he was in the dark about the details of this massive investment.
It confirms a pattern that is disturbingly familiar to environmentalists who have been monitoring much longer “development” projects: the way Chinese companies are building large hydropower projects in the same southwestern corner targeted for the new railway line. …
China’s hydropower projects, now estimated to be over $1.6 billion in investments, are aiming to generate 915 megawatts of power in a country that suffers from an energy deficit. Only a quarter of the country’s 14.5 million population has access to power from the national grid. …
Marwaan Macan-Markar
http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/30883
Japanese grants set to aid local farmers
March 28th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Foreign Aid, Industry, International Relations
The Japanese government has provided $118,996 for constructing a cassava propagation and distribution centre in Battambang province. The fund comes in response to the recent challenges facing farmers in the province who are facing a shortage of cassava trees to plant.
Kumamaru Yuji, Japanese ambassador to Cambodia, said the grant was given to the University of Battambang yesterday for installing two autoclaves of 50 and 150 litres, one clean bench, and the construction of two screen houses, with a capacity of 300 square metres, and for the acquisition of 600 square metres to breed virus-free cassava. …
Touch Visalsok, rector of the University of Battambang and a recipient of the grant, said the fund came in time to construct a centre that is crucial for supplying disease-free and high-yield cassava planting materials to farmers – and not only in his province. …
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032864733/Business/japanese-grants-set-to-aid-local-farmers.html
ADB praises Cambodia for public debt management
March 27th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Banking & Finance, Business & Commercial Development, Debt Servicing, Economics, Financial Services, Foreign Aid, International Relations, Technical Assistance
Eric Sidgwick, Country director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to Cambodia applauded Cambodia for managing it’s, sometimes problematic, public debts. …
During the Wednesday meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Sok An, Eric Sidgwick said, good management led to the positive changes of donations and loans to Cambodia. …
The government, with the collaboration of ADB, aims to increase the GDP of its citizens to $4,000 by 2030, he added.
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NDQ1NmJhNTk1M2V
Cambodian PM to visit China to advance bilateral ties
March 26th, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Construction, Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, International Relations, Technical Assistance
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that he will pay an official visit to China early next month to meet with new Chinese leaders for talks on further enhancing bilateral relations. …
“I hope that new Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang will continue to support Cambodia in the development of infrastructure including roads and bridges,” Hun Sen said during a groundbreaking for the construction of the 7th Cambodia-China Friendship Bridge in southern Kandal province. …
Xinhuanet Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-03/25/c_132260956.htm
Hun Sen Seeks Chinese Help for Bridge Project
March 26th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Construction, Foreign Aid, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Technical Assistance
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday urged China to come up with enough funding for Cambodia to build a 3.5km bridge across the Tonle Sap and connect National Road 6 in Kampong Thom with Kampong Chhang province.
Speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony for a $20 million Chinese bridge crossing the Bassac River in Kandal province, Mr. Hun Sen lauded China for providing financial assistance to 11 out of 17 bridge projects, seven of which have already been built and another five of which are currently under construction with help from Japan and China.
“One plan is to have a China-Cambodia friendship bridge that will pass over the Tonle Sap. It will be the longest bridge and 3.5 kilometres,” he said at the presence of China’s ambassador, Pan Guangxue. ….
As well as the four Chinese-funded bridges being built in Stung Treng, Kandal and Phnom Penh, they are plans in store for Chinese bridges across the Mekong in Kratie and Kompong Cham provinces, he said. …
“In the Tonle Sap basin, there are no ownership rights,” [Mr. Hun Sen] said. “For people who live along the Tonle Sap, such as in Ponhea Leu and Mok Kampul districts [in Kandal province], and other people who live along the Mekong and Bassac rivers, you will get land titles.”
Neou Vannarin, P.19
www.cambodiadaily.com
Koh Thom Bridge construction launched
March 25th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Foreign Aid, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Technical Assistance
A ground breaking ceremony of the $19.39 million, Koh Thom Bridge, has been launched Monday. …
The 407 meter bridge will be built over the, Tonle Bassac River, linking National Road 110 in the village of Prek Thmey, Chroy Takeo commune and National Road 21 in the commune of Prek Sdey, Koh Thom district. …
The Cambodian Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjY1MTY0ZWI3ZjE
Evicted Railway Families Facing Debt ‘Crisis’
March 22nd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Debt Servicing, Disputed Land, Economics, Foreign Aid, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, Social Concerns
Debt levels among the more than 1,000 families being evicted by a $142.6 million railway project bankrolled by Australia and the Asia Development Bank (ADB) have reached “crisis” proportions and require major intervention, according to a U.S resettlement expert who was hired by the ADB to study the impact of the project. …
In his recommendations, Mr. Cernea, said that evicted families were in many cases at risk of losing their new government-issued plots of land to moneylenders and that families falling into debt was “the single most dangerous risk” facing the resettled families. …
Among his recommendations was an immediate stop to evictees being able to swap their new land for loans, a thorough census of the families and their debts, and that the ADB and Ausaid work with the government on a “full, project-scale” solution.
He also questioned whether it was legal for the money lenders to take the families’ new plots of land as collateral and urged the partners in the project to see what they could do to nullify the loan deals or at least punish the lenders. …
Nhean Leang, who sits on the government’s resettlement committee, claimed that of the more than 4,000 families affected by the rail project, only 25 were actually being hurt and shifted any blame to the ADB and the families themselves.
“You should ask the ADB about the design, how they designed it. We just follow the designs of the Ministry of Transportation and the ADB,” he said. …
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evicted-railway-families-facing-debt-crisis-15618/
Kingdom, Japan to ink $33.9m grant today
March 21st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Energy, Foreign Aid, Hydroelectricity, International Relations, News Source, Technical Assistance
Cambodia will sign a $33.9 million grant aid today from the Japanese government to support various small hydropower dam projects, improve a hospital and update resources of a university, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. …
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032164548/Business/kingdom-japan-to-ink-33-9m-grant-today.html