Eviction Protestors Block Phnom Penh International Airport
May 23rd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Tourism
About 20 people protesting their pending eviction from their homes near Phnom Penh International Airport blocked people from leaving or entering the airport for about half an hour yesterday, before a large force of police broke up their protest. …
In July, authorities told 182 families that their homes were in the way of a security “buffer zone” around the airport, and that they needed to clear out ahead of the arrival of the world leaders for two summits late last year. …
The residents insist they own their land legally, as local government officials had recognized their property transactions and house constructions over many years. But the municipal government has rejected those claims, saying they built their homes illegally regardless of what commune and district officials acknowledged in terms of their land purchase and construction. …
If the houses are not removed, the International Civil Aviation Organisation could blacklist Phnom Penh International Airport, he [Civil Aviation State Secretariat Say Sokhan] claimed.
Aun Pheap, P.17
www.cambodiadaily.com
Hun Sen Tells Landowners in Kep to Obey Tax Law
May 23rd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Industry, International Relations, Land Tenure
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday told landowners in the coastal province of Kep to pay their taxes on unused land and increase the amount of investment in the area to attract more visitors.
According to the law, unused land is subject to a 2 percent tax that must be paid by the registered owner before September 30 of the relevant year. …
Mr. Hun sen also called on investors to boost the number of tourism projects in the small coastal province. …
Neou Vannarin
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/hun-sen-tells-landowners-in-kep-to-obey-tax-law-26172/
Rain Provides Small Respite for Families in Koh Kong Drought
May 23rd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Environment & Natural Resources, Industry, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns, Water
Several days of rain have finally brought relief to hundreds of families in Koh Kong province’s Khemara Phoumint City who had been without water for two weeks because the reservoir that provides their supply dried up during hot season. …
LYP Group, a company owned by Ly Yong Yong Phat, channels water to 4,000 families in Khemara Phoumint City from the Cham Yeam reservoir in Mondol Seima district and [provincial director of the department of industry mines and energy] Mr. [Pitch] Si Yun said that about 20 percent of those families had been affected since early May by water shortages.
Mr. Si Yun said that both his department and LYP group had studied ways to solve the area’s water-shortage problem and had already identified a new reservoir site at Ta Phorn waterfall located nearby that could store between 5,000 and 7,000 cubic meters of water. …
Mr. Si Yun said construction was scheduled to begin later this year and would take around two years to complete. …
Chhorn Chansy, P.17
www.cambodiadaily.com
Vietnam Power Failure Hits Phnom Penh
May 23rd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Electricity, Energy, Imports, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Social Concerns, Tourism, Water
A massive power outage Wednesday in Southern Vietnam brought rolling blackouts that lasted for hours to Ho Chi Minh City, the entire southeastern region of Vietnam and large sections of Phnom Penh.
Vietnam’s state-owned Southern Power Corporation said Wednesday that the problem occurred around 2 p.m. following the breakdown of a 500-kilovolt transmission line that also supplies Cambodia with much-needed electricity. …
“We have only about 30 percent of our normal supply of electricity to distribute to important areas of the city, but we are trying to fix the problem,” the [Eletricite du Cambodge] official said yesterday afternoon, adding that Vietnam provides Cambodia with about 40 percent of its national electricity supply.
Keo Sovannarith, deputy director of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, confirmed the city’s water supply had been hit by the outage.
“When the water supply factory looses electricity from the EdC, the machine-which uses electricity to work-can’t pump water to the pipes,” he said. …
Chin Chan and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/vietnam-power-failure-hits-phnom-penh-26121/
Abused women’s support services to expand
May 22nd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Labor, News Source, Social Concerns
Helping women find better employment opportunities is key to ensuring they feel able to report rape and sexual abuse, government and civil society representatives said yesterday.
Although Cambodian courts are prosecuting an increasing number of cases involving violence against women, economic concerns stop many from reporting all but the most extreme abuse, officials said. …
As part of the action plan, the ministry hopes to expand a program of one-stop service centres currently based in Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces, which offer victims healthcare, legal and social consultation and career training. …
Justine Drennan and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265772/National/abused-women-s-support-services-to-expand.html
Officials in ‘contract’ farms drive
May 22nd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Farming, Financial Services, Foreign Aid, News Source, Technical Assistance
Officials are seeking expert firms to implement projects on so-called contract farming and the enhancement of the involvement of farmers’ organisations in paddy collecting and processing, officials said.
Contract farming is an agreement on agricultural production carried out between a farmer and buyers, which establishes conditions for the production and marketing of a farm product or products. …
Mao Thora, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce, said Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) provided €6 million ($7.7 million) for projects including contract farming and providing loans. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265766/Business/officials-in-contract-farms-drive.html
Dad ‘Threatened’ by Court
May 22nd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Land Tenure, News Source
The father of three youths allegedly beaten by DM Group workers earlier this month said court officers yesterday threatened to imprison him if he did not agree to compromise with the company and drop the case.
Ry Sarun appeared at Ratanakkiri Provincial Court yesterday to answer questions about his claims that DM Group employees attacked his three children while they were attempting to stop them clearing the family’s land. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265776/National/dad-threatened-by-court.html
Trafficked numbers rising
May 22nd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, International Relations, Labor, News Source, Social Concerns
Their stories have become all too familiar – Cambodian fishermen enslaved on fishing boats after being promised lucrative jobs overseas. They’re also becoming increasingly common.
Anti-trafficking NGOs told the Post this week that they have noticed an exponential increase in the number of trafficking complaints from fishermen trapped abroad.
In the past two years, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) aided in the repatriation of just over 100 Cambodians. But in just the first five months of 2013, the IOM has assisted in the return of 63 Cambodians – mostly from Malaysia, Indonesia and Mauritius. …
Two weeks ago, Taiwanese national Lin Yu Shin, 53, was arrested in Siem Reap on charges of trafficking Cambodians onto Taiwanese fishing trawlers off the coast of Africa.
According to the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies, Lin’s company – Giant Ocean International Fishery – had already been operating for several years before it obtained its Ministry of Labour licence in 2009, and was part of a bigger network that dealt with partners in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC), estimates the company trafficked some 1,000 Cambodians. …
Danson Cheong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265773/National/trafficked-numbers-rising.html
At 10th Anniversary, Arbitration Council Faces Funding Shortage
May 22nd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Garment Industry, Industry, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
The Arbitration Council, an independent body that resolves labor disputes in Cambodia’s garment sector, celebrated its 10th anniversary yesterday, though officials expressed concern that funding for the body was due to run out in March next year.
Oum Mean, secretary of state at the Ministry of Labor, said the Arbitration Council currently receives all its funding from the World Bank’s good governance project and that more funds are needed to ensure the body–which has resolved nearly 1,500 industrial disputes, survives. …
Speaking after the conference, Mr. Mean said it was not the responsibility of the government to fund the body but that of the Arbitration Council itself. …
In the 10 years since funding for the International Labor Organization helped establish the Arbitration Council, it has resolved nearly 1,500 industrial disputes involving more than 600,00 workers. It also claims an 80 percent success rate in preventing strikes during negotiations.
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/at-10th-anniversary-arbitration-council-faces-funding-shortage-25887/
As Foreign Aid Increases, Questions About Conditions
May 21st, 2013, VOA Khmer, Construction, Economics, Foreign Aid, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
Cambodia has seen huge growth of foreign aid and loans over the past two decades, but experts are beginning to question its worth—and what conditions might be attached.
Total aid from 1993 to 2012 amounts to around $10 billion, with the percentage of aid coming as loans steadily increasing. And a larger portion of that money is now coming from China, in a shift from the typical international aid patterns. …
Cambodia received a total aid package of $550 million in 2004, according to government figures. By 2012, that number increased to $1.38 billion, an increase of about 14 percent per year.
China has been behind much of that increase, but other aid comes from international donors like Australia, Japan and the US, as well as the Asian Development Bank and the UN. …
But donor priorities have shifted over the years. The health sector, for example, which was traditionally the most funded, has been surpassed by projects for infrastructure in recent years. Again, Chinese money accounts for the shift. Infrastructure aid has increased from $185 million in 2010 to $376 million in 2012. …
Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, said Chinese loans have higher interest rates compared to other donors, and the deals aren’t transparent.
“Some aid is useful, but some is not,” he said. Substandard road construction, subject to corruption and non-transparent bidding, for example, is not good for the country, he said. “Only one or two years after construction, the road is damaged again,” he said.
There are also those who argue that Cambodia is taking in too much aid. …
Theara Khoun
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/as-foreign-aid-increases-questions-about-conditions/1664821.html
Cambodian, Thai state-owned broadcasters ink cooperation deal
May 21st, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Business & Commercial Development, Industry, International Relations, Telecommunications
The National Television of Cambodia and the Mass Communication Organization of Thailand (MCOT) on Tuesday signed a television cooperation agreement, focusing on the exchange of TV programs and information.
The deal was inked between director general of the National Television of Cambodia Kem Gunawadh and MCOT’s director general Anek Perm Vongsent under the presence of Cambodia’s Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith. …
He [Khieu Kanharith] said that it was very important to exchange information. As the border conflict between the two countries has not been solved, both sides must broadcast only factual information and must avoid any provocative news. …
Xinhuanet Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-05/21/c_132398350.htm
Seven Feared Trapped in Gold Mine Collapse
May 21st, 2013, VOA Khmer, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Industry, International Relations, Labor, Mining
A gold mine shaft has collapsed in Preah Vihear province, trapping at least seven miners, officials said Monday. …
The collapse took place in a shaft that is typically mined by up to 60 people at a time, he [Rovieng Police Chief Sin Thorn].
Sin Thorn said he has warned villagers against mining there in the past, “but they never listen to my advice.” …
Romtum Commune Chief Prak Sokhun said rescue efforts are underway. Local police and others are trying to dig out the landslide that they believe is cutting off the exit to the shaft.
A district police officer who asked not to be named said there have been similar incidents of smaller scale at the mine in the past, some of them fatal, but Monday’s collapse has trapped more people that other similar incidents.
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/seven-feared-trapped-in-gold-mine-collapse/1664837.html
Solar panels see sunny times ahead
May 21st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Electricity, Energy, Financial Services, News Source, Solar Power
Officials and business people say solar panels are gaining in popularity in rural areas, where the power grid does not reach.
Mao Sangat, director of Solar Energy Cambodia, told the Post yesterday that his company saw increases of installation of solar power systems for families whose children worked abroad and remitted money to their parents.
He said that so far, there were no huge projects to equip solar panel systems in public places such as schools or hospitals in rural areas supported by NGOs, but solar panels were selling well to families in three provinces – Kampong Cham, Prey Veng and Svay Rieng. …
Yiang Tal, chief of administration of Rural Electrification of Cambodia, said Electricity of Cambodia (EDC) provided $4 million for the Department of Rural Electrification Fund (REF) this year for providing loans to villagers and private electricity providers for implementing rural electricity development. …
He said that more than $1 million had gone to providing loans to private electricity providers to connect lines to rural homes, and all the connected families were required to pay back over two or three years without interest charges. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165730/Business/solar-panels-see-sunny-times-ahead.html
Homeowners petition ADB
May 21st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, Land Tenure, News Source, Technical Assistance
The occupants of 90 Phnom Penh households whose homes were partially or completely dismantled to make way for the Railway Rehabilitation Project partly funded by the ADB have demanded the bank offer them fair compensation.
In a letter submitted to the Inter-Ministerial Resettlement Committee, the ADB, the National Assembly and the Ministry of Economy and Finance yesterday, the villagers argued they had been unfairly locked out of compensation due to technicalities despite valid claims.
Luy Im, a representative of 23 complainants from Toul Sangke A, said she received only $100 in compensation after the front of her house was destroyed in 2011 to accommodate the works. …
The complainants, who include six households from Phum III and 65 from Tapeang Anhchanh, want the IRC to intervene because their compensation requests through one avenue of the ADB’s accountability mechanism have been rejected on the grounds that they were accepted via another. …
Mom Kunthear and David Boyle
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165738/National/homeowners-petition-adb.html
Luxury rosewood bust
May 21st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Environment & Natural Resources, Forests, News Source, Timber/Wood
Nearly three tonnes of illegally logged rosewood was seized during a raid on the home of a former military police officer in Stung Treng province yesterday.
Provincial deputy prosecutor Sun Yeut, who took part in a multi-departmental raid that included police and Forestry Administration officials, said the seized luxury wood had been sent to the local forestry office but that no arrests had been made. …
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165743/National/luxury-rosewood-bust.html
Scepticism over government statistics
May 21st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, News Source
Getting reliable statistical data remains a challenge for Cambodia’s government, as a lack of cooporation among the ministries and corruption still distort what is reality.
Industry insiders say this is a problem, especially as reliable data are the base of reference when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) economic community is drafting its policies.
Analysts say data from the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) under the Ministry of Planning, such as the Economic Census of Cambodia, would be reliable, but statistics published by other ministries were not. …
“There still remains some uncertainty around the accuracy of the subscriber statistics coming out of the Cambodian telecom market,” Peter Evans wrote in his 2012 report about the Kingdom’s telecommunications sector. Therefore, he assumed a possible deviation of 15 to 20 per cent about his projection data. …
“When any nation falls behind in this process, it means that the region will not complete the organisation of its statistics. Government statistics are the base reference when the ASEAN Economic Community, the [East Asia Summit] and the ASEAN Economic ministers draft their policies,” a report on Capacity Building for Statisticians in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar from the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) said in 2009. “A lack of qualification of statisticians hinders the international comparability of industrial statistics.” …
Sarah Thust
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165728/Business/scepticism-over-government-statistics.html
Factory Dining Hall Collapses in Phnom Penh; 23 injured
May 21st, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns
The dining hall of a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district that supplies clothes to U.S. brand Gap collapsed into a pond Monday, injuring more than 20 workers who were eating lunch, workers and officials said.
The hall, which is part of Top World Garment (Cambodia) Ltd. in Kbal Koh commune but outside the main building, collapsed at 11:40 a.m., according to commune police chief Mao Rith. …
The accident comes only five days after another factory in Kompong Speu province experienced a ceiling collapse that left two workers dead. Government and factory officials yesterday said the Taiwanese-owned Wing Star Shoes Co. Ltd. was safe enough for staff to go back to work.
“Tomorrow, the workers will return to work so that the production chain will not be affected,” said Oum Mean, secretary of state at the Ministry of Labor. …
Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) election candidate Mu Sochua… said the CNRP is demanding a transparent inspection of Wing Star Shoes, as well as all the other factories in the country.
She also called for the prosecution of all the individuals who were involved in the oversight of the building’s illegal construction. …
Chin Chan and Chhorn Chansy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factory-dining-hall-collapses-in-phnom%E2%80%88penh-23-injured-25558/
Packaged MSG imports plummet
May 21st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Foreign Investment, Imports, Industry, News Source, Trade
Cambodian imports of packaged monosodium glutamate (MSG) totalled just 2,086 tonnes last year, the lowest amount since 2002, according to import figures from the customs department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The import figures showed that from 2002 to 2010, Cambodia had imported a total of 137,908 tonnes of MSG, an average of about 15,323 tonnes annually.
While domestic MSG consumption is said to be on the rise, industry insiders say the decline of imports is not because Cambodians are turning away from the popular taste enhancer, but because a local packaging factory is feeding domestic demand. …
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165729/Business/packaged-msg-imports-plummet.html
Thai generator looking at Kingdom
May 20th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Electricity, Energy, Foreign Investment, News Source
Thailand-based Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl (RATCH) has “seriously assessed” investment possibility in neighbouring countries including Cambodia, a company statement said last Thursday.
It said it had geared up for business expansion in domestic and international markets in the potential existing investment bases Laos and Australia, but is also considering Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines. …
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065705/Business/thai-generator-looking-at-kingdom.html
‘Take it or leave it’
May 20th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Garment Industry, Industry, Labor, News Source
The uncle of a man who died in Thursday’s ceiling collapse at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu province claimed yesterday that the company had threatened to give the family nothing if they did not agree to an on-the-spot payout.
It came as a government official said the two families who lost loved ones in the collapse were not eligible for state compensation beyond funeral costs.
Rim Rorn, 29, uncle of Rim Roeun, 22, who died in the Kong Pisei district factory, a supplier to Asics, said talks between his family and factory representatives had broken down. …
Roeun and co-worker Kim Dany, who was initially identified by police and family members as Sim Srey Touch, were crushed to death when an overloaded storage level collapsed, sending concrete, steel and stock crashing onto the walkway beneath. …
Korn Vet, 44, the father of Kim Dany, said company representatives had already paid his family $6,500 for a funeral. …
Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodia Defenders Project, said it was unlikely, though, that anyone would be charged.
“If we are talking about . . . it being a criminal [case] of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, someone must [be proven] to have intended to commit a crime,” he said. “They do not have any law relating to neglect or illegal construction . . . I think there is only compensation.” …
Chhay Channyda and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065719/National/take-it-or-leave-it.html