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
EDC promises more power
March 29th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Hydroelectricity, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Social Concerns
The recent power shortages have left residents of Phnom Penh out in the heat and dark, but amidst their mounting frustration, state-owned energy supplier Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) has announced it will be purchasing more power from Thailand to address the shortfall.
Keo Rattanak, director-general of the EDC, said in a company notice that the EDC had already purchased an additional 15 megawatts (MW) that would go toward addressing the power cuts along National Road 4.
He added that in the next two to three days, the company would purchase an additional 10 MW and a further 10 MW before the Khmer New Year holidays in April. …
Ty Thany, executive director at the Electricity Authority of Cambodia, said the measure could lead to higher energy prices since “Thailand and Vietnam, they sell us power, but want to sell it at a high price.”
San Vibol, an energy researcher at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, feels the government should instead develop an energy policy encouraging efficiency and renewability. …
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Danson Cheong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032964781/National/edc-promises-more-power.html
EdC Appeals For Public to Unplug In Power Crisis
March 29th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Hydroelectricity, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns
Cambodia’s national electricity provider yesterday appealed to the public to unplug from the national energy supply in an effort to alleviate chronic seasonal power shortages that are causing blackouts across Phnom Penh and the rest of the country.
Eletricite du Cambodge (EdC) published an announcement asking people with back-up generators- most likely businesses- to use their own power supplies so that electricity could be freed up for the rest of the population. …
Last week, the Edc said that the 190-megawatt Kamchay dam in Kampot province- Cambodia’s only large-scale online hydropower dam- was operating at only 10 percent capacity due to a lack of water, which was a significant cause of the blackouts. …
Cambodia’s steady economic growth has caused a spike in demand, and electricity shortages have been compounded, according to the announcement, by a shortfall in the amount of energy Vietnam had promised to sell to Cambodia.
“Of the 250 Megawatts promised to us by Vietnam, only 170 megawatts were made available due to Vietnam’s own shortages,” the statement says.
Any demands the EdC is making on the public to switch off power are short-term, it said, as a new coal-fired power plant in Preah Sihanouk province is planned to go online in June, while the rainy season will refill hydropower capacity. …
In the meantime, the EdC said it is taking its own steps, including increasing the operating times of the Kamchay dam and Kompong Speu’s Kirirom dam. It will purchase more electricity in the next few days from Thailand.
“We are getting 15 megawatts from Thailand to supply Phnom Penh,” the announcement says, adding that it hoped in the next week to buy another 10-megawatts from neighboring countries, and to add a further 10-megawatts before Khmer News Year in April. …
Phorn Bhopa and Simon Hernderson, P.1
www.cambodiadaily.com
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
Strongman’s hand in BHP deal
March 26th, 2013, The Sydney Morning Herald, Business & Commercial Development, Extractive Industries, Foreign Investment, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, Mining, Social Concerns
A BHP Billiton mining deal being investigated for alleged corruption was personally overseen by Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, diplomatic cables reveal.
The miner’s aborted attempt to establish a bauxite mine in Cambodia, and its hospitality program for Chinese officials at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are at the centre of a foreign bribery investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the US Justice Department. …
Diplomatic cables, several marked ”sensitive” and ”protected”, show for the first time Prime Minister Hun Sen’s close involvement in 2006 negotiations with BHP executives that led to him announcing to a private audience he would give ”BHP 1 million hectares of land” weeks before an agreement was signed and ”a possible tax holiday”.
They also reveal how BHP stopped all mineral exploration in Cambodia just months after a British non-governmental organisation published a 2009 report highlighting the company’s payment of $US3.5 million to Cambodian government departments and concerns it could not be accounted for.
There is no evidence suggesting any of the money went to Mr Hun Sen or his associates, and he has dismissed reports suggesting BHP was involved in bribery in Cambodia.
Richard Baker
http://www.smh.com.au/national/strongmans-hand-in-bhp-deal-20130325-2gqae.html
Grasslands present dilemma
March 26th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Farming, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Reports, Rice, Social Concerns
A week after British researchers released a study warning that the nation’s grasslands would soon be lost if drastic action was not taken to protect them, some agricultural experts have called for moderation, noting that the intensive rice cultivation blamed for the grasslands’ destruction is critical to the nation’s developing commercial rice sector. …
Dr Volker Kleinhenz, an agricultural consultant who has researched rice cultivation in the Kingdom extensively, called the area around the Tonle Sap, “exceptional” because of the readily available source of water for irrigation.
“Double-cropping can double annual yields. Furthermore, the yields and quality of dry-season rice are usually better than that of wet-season rice, predisposing this crop for export,” he said. …
Since 2005, the year researchers say intensive rice cultivation became the leading cause of destruction of the grasslands, rice exports have increased exponentially – from 5,971 tonnes in 2005 to 192,666 tonnes last year – according to statistics from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Danson Cheong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664676/National/grasslands-present-dilemma.html
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
Evictees back on land
March 26th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, International Relations, Land Tenure, Social Concerns
Dozens of families at Borei Keila have moved back on to land they were evicted from last year, despite intimidation and threats of arrest by security forces employed by developer Phan Imex.
Earlier this month, security guards tore down the shelters of 12 families who had returned to the site.
Since then, despite more tents being pulled down by security forces, 45 families have settled on the site, saying they will not leave until the adequate housing they were promised on adjoining land is delivered. …
Villagers signed a deal with Phan Imex in 2004, agreeing to vacate the land in exchange for the construction of 10 high-rise apartment blocks for 1,776 families on an adjacent site.
Only eight blocks were constructed and the remaining families were violently evicted in January last year, leaving hundreds homeless or forced to live in remote relocation sites. …
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664678/National/evictees-back-on-land.html
Largesse and threats ahead of election
March 26th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Infrastructure, Labor, Land Tenure, Social Concerns
Prime Minister Hun Sen warned thousands of villagers yesterday that his most popular initiatives, including his far-reaching land-titling scheme, will simply disappear if he is not re-elected in July’s national election – amid suggestions his campaigning has unofficially begun.
In a marked shift from his apparent generosity of last week, which included returning land to evictees in Preah Sihanouk province and adding $2 to a monthly garment wage increase, the prime minister used a ground-breaking ceremony for a bridge to predicted regression should the CPP fall from power. …
As well as intervening in the wage issue and overturning a sub-decree that wrested land in Preah Sihanouk back from tycoon Cheam Phen – sparing 49 families from permanent relocation – Hun Sen also publicly declared last week he had sacked Yean Sina, an undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, over his alleged part in the beating of 10 journalists.
Koul Panha, executive director of election-monitoring NGO Comfrel, did not consider Sina’s sacking a strategic move to sway voters, but believed Hun Sen’s land and wage moves were.
Shane Worrell and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664688/National/largesse-and-threats-ahead-of-election.html
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
Powerless Phnom Penh Struggles With Hot Season
March 25th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, Social Concerns, Solar Power, Water
As air-conditioning units slow to a halt, computers die and the lights go out, the frustration of local business owners and organizations in Phnom Penh is boiling over once again as the annual hot season blackouts have arrived. …
The 190-megawatt, Chinese-built Kamchay hydropower dam in Kampot province came online in 2011 with the promise of bringing more power to Phnom Penh and helping reduce the country’s energy-supply deficit.
Yet according to an EdC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with the media, the Kamchay dam is currently operating at only 10 percent of its capacity because “there is no water” during the dry season. Blackouts were also the result of EdC upgrading power transformers, which required that some sub-stations had to be temporarily cut off, the official said, adding that the upgrade work should be completed by mid-April. …
“Dams need water,” Mr. Mean said. “But the fact is, Cambodia is much better suited to solar energy than hydropower,” he said.
Michael Shaw, an independent renewable energy adviser who worked with NGO Engineers Without Borders in Cambodia, said that even with the nine new hydropower dams in the pipeline, Phnom Penh and other cities are growing at a pace that will exceed that supply. …
Simon Henderson and Sun Mesa
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/powerless-phnom-penh-struggles-with-hot-season-15655/
Documentary Looks at Impact of Mekong Dams
March 22nd, 2013, VOA, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Fishing, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns, Water
An updated documentary, “Where Have All the Fish Gone?,” examines the impacts of hydroelectric dams on the Mekong River.
The Xayaburi dam, which would produce hydropower for market, has become a divisive issue among Mekong River countries. Critics say it could severely damage ecosystems on which lower countries like Cambodia and Vietnam rely. It is one of 11 dams under consideration on the lower Mekong. …
Some 60 million people live along the Mekong River, relying on it for food and agriculture. The use of the river is supposed to be supervised by the Mekong River Commission, which has representatives from regional governments. …
Say Mony
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/documentary-looks-at-impact-of-mekong-dams/1626779.html
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/
Short on Water in the Tonle Sap
March 20th, 2013, Radio Free Asia, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Fishing, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns
Residents of a village in the middle of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap “Great Lake” live surrounded by water, but don’t have enough access to clean water for drinking, cooking, and washing.
The Tonle Sap, a combined lake and river system that swells in the rainy season to form Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, has for generations supported fishing communities living in floating villages of moored houseboats.
But the silt deposited by the flow of the Mekong River, which nourishes the Tonle Sap’s abundance of fish that form a key source of food for millions of Cambodians, makes its brown, muddy waters unsuitable for daily use by households. …
During the wet season, residents can get clean water from nearby ponds and wells, but during the dry season villagers have to buy bottled water. …
Radio Free Asia Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/water-03202013141227.html
Hun Sen: No to industry along coast
March 19th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Tourism
Hun Sen asked authorities to maintain the pristine beaches along coastal provinces by not allowing any industrial factories to be constructed on or near them. …
The comment was aimed towards an agreement signed by Cambodian and Chinese companies late last month to build a $2.3 bln kerosene plant which can produce 5 mln tons annually. The factory will be ready by late 2015.
The Cambodian Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZmQ1NGIxODRiYTk
Cambodia launches National Council on Green Growth
March 19th, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Economics, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations
Cambodia on Tuesday officially inaugurated the National Council on Green Growth, aiming at developing a sustainable economic society with natural resource and environment sustainability. …
Cambodia has adopted several legal instruments for the green growth implementation. Those included the roadmap for green growth, the memorandum of understanding on green growth cooperation between Cambodia and South Korea’s Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the National Council on Green Growth, and Cambodia’s membership into an agreement on the establishment of the GGGI. …
Xinhuanet Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/19/c_132246075.htm
ADB Smothers Report On Families Hit by Rail Project
March 19th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, Economics, Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns, Technical Assistance
The Asian Development Bank has refused to release a critical study on the impacts its $141.6 million railway project is having on thousands of Cambodian families because disclosure of the report could hurt its relationship with the government, an ADB spokeswoman said.
Raising concerns about the ADB’s decision to bury the report‘s findings, housing rights groups released a statement yesterday criticizing the banks lack of transparency and public accountability. …
After having its initial request for access to the report denied, Inclusive Development International (IDI) appealed to the ADB’s Public Disclosure Advisory Committee on February 16. The ADB committee informed IDI that its appeal has also been rejected on Friday.
“ADB has long recognized that transparency and accountability are essential to development effectiveness and ADB’s ability to achieve its vision of an Asia and Pacific free of poverty,” ADB spokeswoman Ann Quon said in the letter.
But releasing Dr. Cernea’s findings on the rail project, Ms. Quon said, would further delay a project that is already behind schedule and over budget, damage the ADB’s long term relationship with the government, and “compromise the integrity of the of ADB’s deliberative decision-making process.” …
Both the ADB and the Australian government’s foreign aid arm co-funding the project, AusAid, have sold the railway’s rebirth as a key of bringing down the cost of transport and doing business across the country.
They have also placed the responsibility for the roughly 1,200 families the project will ultimately see evicted on the government, while pledging extra money to help the families supplement their diminished incomes after eviction. …
Zsombor Peter and Phorn Bopha, P.1
www.cambodiadaily.com
Hun Sen: to rebuild homes in Sihanoukville
March 18th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, Industry, Infrastructure, Land Tenure, Social Concerns
The Prime Minister ordered 49 family’s houses to be rebuild [sic] at Keo Pus Village, in the Steung Hav District of Sihanoukville, after they had been demolished by authorities earlier this month. …
He also ordered Bin Chhin, Chairman of the National Authority for Land Dispute and Resolution, to personally oversee the problem and solve it. …
The land had been the topic of dispute between 49 families and Leo Brewery owner Cheam Pen since 2006. …
The Cambodian Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=YmFjMDM0MTczYzl
New study reveals catastrophic loss of Cambodia’s tropical flooded grasslands
March 17th, 2013, Phys Org News, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Economics, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Farming, Fishing, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Land Tenure, Reports
Around half of Cambodia’s tropical flooded grasslands have been lost in just 10 years according to new research from the University of East Anglia. The seasonally flooded grasslands around the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, are of great importance for biodiversity and a refuge for 11 globally-threatened bird species, including the Bengal Florican. They are also a vital fishing, grazing, and traditional rice farming resource for around 1.1 million people. …
The grassland area spanned 3349 km² in 1995, but by 2005 it had been reduced to just 1817 km² – a loss of 46 per cent.
Despite conservation efforts in some areas, it has continued to shrink rapidly since, with a further 19 per cent lost in four years (2005-2009) from the key remaining grassland area in the southeast of the Tonle Sap floodplain.
Factors include intensive commercial rice farming with construction of irrigation channels, which is often illegal. Some areas have also been lost to scrubland where traditional, low-intensity agricultural activity has been abandoned. …
Phys Org News Staff
http://phys.org/news/2013-03-reveals-catastrophic-loss-cambodia-tropical.html
Land rights have key role in Cambodia
March 16th, 2013, The Gulf Times, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Environment & Natural Resources, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Land Tenure, Timber/Wood
Faced with widespread evictions and opaque private sector deals, activists in Cambodia are calling on the government to be more open and transparent about land concessions, beef up mechanisms for resolving land disputes, and abide by the rule of law. …
It is estimated that at least two thirds of Cambodians, many of them poverty-stricken farmers, lack proper deeds to the property they live on. Over the past decade thousands have been forcibly evicted from their homes, while others have fallen victim to land-grabbing. During this time of rapid economic growth, and with more growth forecast, there has been increasing demand for land in this largely agricultural country of about 15mn people, and rising land tenure insecurity, experts say. …
Rights groups have largely welcomed a moratorium on the granting of new ELCs, a review of existing concessions, and a nationwide land-titling programme announced by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in June 2012 to stem the number of disputes. According to ADHOC, official data states that by the end of 2012, more than 71,000 land titles had been issued through the programme. …
Cambodian government spokesperson Phay Siphan said allegations of government complicity in land-grabbing were “baseless” and, if necessary, people could take disputes to court. …
Gulf Times Staff
http://www.gulf-times.com/asean-philippines/188/details/345724/land-rights-have-key-role-in-cambodia