Property experts say foreign companies are coming to invest in Cambodia’s property sector, as they see the growth and potential of the Kingdom.
Sung Bonna, director of Bonna Realty Group, said that the number of foreign companies in the sector has grown, and most are from South Korea, Japan, China, Singapore and Malaysia. …
“The property investment companies growth rose a little bit during 2011-212 as it grew better during 2012 and early in 2013”, Bonna said, “After Cambodia hosted the Asean Summit, with world leaders joining the meeting, we see the inflow of foreign investors into Cambodia, but some of them, at the moment, have been doing research and considering about the possible investment in Cambodia”. …
In the hilly wilderness across southwestern Cambodia, the foundations of the country’s strengthening bonds with China are taking root. It is there that large dams supported by Chinese money are being built to literally bring the impoverished Southeast Asian nation out of darkness.
The largest of them so far, the US$280 million (RM865.2 million) Kamchay Dam in Kampot province, came to life a year ago, helping to brighten the nights in Phnom Penh. It is one of five dams backed by Chinese investments aimed at easing the electricity deficit in the country of 14.9 million people â [sic] ” where only a quarter of the population has access to power from the national grid.
The howls of protests from villagers and green groups have not deterred China’s dam builders, which have committed a total investment of US$1.6 billion to produce an estimated 915mw of power by harnessing the untamed rivers that gush down that remote terrain. The largest symbol of this Cambodian-Chinese alliance is the 338mw Russei Chrum Krom hydropower project, which is being built at a cost of US$500 million. …
The number of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Siem Reap’s ancient Angkor Wat temple and the Kingdom’s coastal areas increased sharply during this year’s three-day Lunar New Year. …
Data from the Siem Reap provincial tourism department show that 52,909 tourists visited Siem Reap during Lunar New Year – an increase of 7.17 per cent from last year. Of that number, 23,709 were foreign tourists, an increase of 16 per cent. Local tourist arrivals rose slightly, by only one per cent. …
The number of foreigners who bought condos in Cambodia increased by between 30 and 40 per cent in 2012 compared with 2011, a recent study showed, while 997 condo units currently belong to foreigners.
Nuon Rithy, general manager of the Bonna Realty Group, said that according to the recent study, about five districts – Toul Kork, Daun Penh, Chamkarmon, 7 Makara, and Russey Keo – had 16 condo buildings, with a total of 2,362 units. …
Container traffic through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, Cambodia’s second largest port, increased by 16 percent in the first nine months of this year thanks to increasing import and export activities in garments and construction materials, the port authority said on Wednesday…
In March last year, to meet with the increasing demand of shipments, the port began to build a container terminal with a total capacity of 120,000 TEUs per year under a Chinese soft loan of 28.2 million U.S. dollars. The construction of the new terminal will be completed in late 2013…
…As China has risen to become the world’s second-largest economy and cemented close political and economic ties with the Kingdom, many people see advantages in speaking the language of their powerful northern benefactor. …
From 1994 to 2011, data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia show that investment from China totaled US$8.91 billion, making it the Kingdom’s biggest foreign investor. …
In terms of media, Chinese is also booming. There are four Chinese-language newspapers in the country; …
But to become a real world language, according to Jeffrey Gil, a lecturer in the Department of Language studies at Australia’s Flinders University, the language will need to become appealing to even more people and be used in an international context in a variety of fields. …
A group of Chinese trade officials from South China’s Shenzhen city has been visiting Cambodia to promote the bilateral trade and investment ties.
The group was led by Zhang Jinsheng, director of Shenzhen WTO Affairs Office.
Addressing a Shenzhen Economic and Trade Forum on Friday afternoon, Zhang said that the visit to Cambodia was to introduce Shenzhen’s trade and investment potentials to Cambodian businesspeople and to explore Cambodia’s investment potentials for Chinese investors.
The forum was attended by some 40 Cambodian and Chinese companies’ executives.
Cambodian Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy on Thursday hailed Chinese companies for hugely investing in the country’s energy sector, which is a key element to support the sustainable social and economic development.
Suy Sem’s appreciation was made during a bilateral meeting with Wu Yin, deputy administrator of China’s National Energy Administration.
“Most investors in the country’s energy sector are from China. Chinese investors have invested billions of US dollars in building hydropower dams and power transmission lines in Cambodia,” he told reporters after the meeting. “The investment in this sector is very vital for Cambodia’s social and economic development and poverty alleviation.”
Suy Sem said that Chinese companies have invested the total investment of over $1.6 billion to construct six hydro-electric dams with the total capacity of almost 1,000 megawatts in Cambodia…
Sarorn Phi, 39, cautiously stops his moto 20 metres away from the large, signless boom gate blocking his path in Sesan district. He shuffles toward the security guard’s hut at the entrance to a sprawling Chinese rubber plantation and negotiates with the guard to enter the concession.
For Phi, and the 18 other families that live in Sre Chhouk village, Kbal Romeas commune, bargaining with security personnel has become part and parcel of life in a village literally marooned by two land concessions.
“We used to be able to come and go, but two years ago, they made a Chinese concession on this side,” Phi says, sitting under a gnarled tree near his lean-to hut. “And a Vietnamese concession on that side. We cannot go anywhere without permission.”….
Bank of China is in negotiations with Cambodia’s central bank on the promotion of business transactions in Chinese yuan.
The official talks reflect rapid trade growth between the two countries at a time when several commercial banks in Cambodia have launched yuan remittance and trade-settlement products.
The Chinese government has given tax benefits to Chinese companies that have settled foreign trade in the currency since 2010, but the discussion between the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and state-owned Bank of China was a sign that China would take a more proactive hand in moving away from the US dollar medium in bilateral trade. …
Business transactions in Cambodia’s main cities are done largely in dollars, which would require conversion to dollars regardless of the currency in which trade with China was conducted.
Cambodia and China plan to double bilateral trade to US$5 billion by 2017. However, experts have noted that Cambodia’s trade deficit is widening and that increased trade with China would mean an influx of Chinese goods and services into the Kingdom.
A new Russian-Cambodian digital satellite television service plans to have 400,000 subscribers in the next two years with 60 channels in Khmer, English, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese and other languages.
The venture between Russia’s General Satellite and Cambodia’s Royal Group was soft-launched last night at Sofitel, with a planned start-up in September and a system using stored smart cards, descrambler boxes and antennas.
The Royal Group Chairman Kith Meng was joined by Russian Deputy Minister of Telecoms and Mass Communications Alexey Malinin and General Satellite President Andrey Tkachenko along with Cambodia’s Minister for information Khieu Kanharith to present the new TV service that intends to cover 70 per cent of Cambodia’s population with 60 channels using “digital wireless” technology. …
Patrick Devillers, the French national and associate of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, seemed to be putting down roots in Cambodia.
The architect – whose shadowy presence has been on the fringes of one of modern China’s largest political scandals – owned land and a restaurant in Kep, according to friends and neighbours, and recently extended the lease on his home, planning both an addition to his house and an expansion of his business in Cambodia.
However, with his arrest by Cambodian authorities at China’s behest, Devillers’ future is in diplomatic limbo as Cambodia weighs the legality of extraditing a French citizen to face unspecified charges in China. …
The date coincided with a visit to Cambodia from He Guoqiang, head of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, an agency that polices corruption among China’s highest-ranking officials, and is therefore considered likely to be handling Bo Xilai’s case.
He was in town to attend a signing ceremony for a $430 million loan from China to Cambodia to be used for public works and infrastructure improvements. ….
Cambodian authorities yesterday arrested French architect Patrick Devillers – friend and business associate of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai – and may be moving to extradite him to China to face unspecified charges there, police said.
Phnom Penh Police Commissioner Touch Naroth confirmed the arrest to the Post, but declined to comment on the charges he faces, referring inquiries to the Department of Immigration, which led the operation.
“What I can say, is that this guy committed crimes in China, but for the details, please ask the immigration department,” Touch Naroth said.
Immigration and national police officials declined to comment. …
An unnamed Chinese investor will put nearly US$400 million into a 300-megawatt coal-powered plant in Kampot province, officials said yesterday.
The plant, slated for a November groundbreaking, will provide power for the Kampot Special Economic Zone, the nearby Prey Nob oil refinery in Preah Sihanouk province and rice mills after a 30-month construction period, said Vinh Huor, president of Kampot Port.
He refused to name the Chinese party that planned to invest. China – or at least investment dollars from several of its state owned firms – has been instrumental in funding power facilities in Cambodia.
In December, Sinohydro Corp completed the Kamchay hydropower dam, the country’s first large-scale power facility. A Chinese company is also behind a coal-fired plant near Sinhanoukville.
Last week, Cambodia approved a $102 million loan from China for the construction of a new dam in Battambang province.
“This is important and we want such investment,” said Kampot Provincial Governor Khoy Khunhour. “China completed the Kamchay hydropower dam project nearly one year sooner than expected, even as the world faced the economic crisis in 2008. Other investment in Kampot left but China did not go anywhere. What China says, it does.”
A Chinese mining firm has donated about $200,000 toward the building of a new district headquarters for the ruling CPP in Preah Vihear province, officials said yesterday.
Kong Makara, director of the provincial industry, mines and energy office, said that Chinese company Cambodian Iron Holding and Industrial Mining Co. Ltd. funded the construction of a new CPP office in Rovieng district, which was inaugurated in January.
The company is still conducting feasibility studies for iron ore mining-which normally involves the extraction of the mineral from an open pit- in preparation for applying for an extraction license, he said.
Mr. Makara said that the payment had nothing to do with the company seeking favorable treatment from local officials, and that the donation would not influence government decision-making. …
Cambodia and China, on June 13th, inked an agreement to strengthen their ties and showed they have become comprehensive strategic partners as ties between the two countries boosts bilateral trade to reach a level of 5 billion US dollars by 2017.
Eang Sophallet, an assistant to Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen, told media that Samdech PM Hun Sen has suggested that the Chinese side needs to encourage Chinese businesspeople to invest more in the field of tourism industry in the kingdom of Cambodia.
Samdech also urged the Chinese side to establish a direct flight between the provinces of China to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap provinces as more Chinese tourists start visiting Cambodia. …
A Cambodian-flagged cargo ship was used last year to deliver four missile-launching vehicles to North Korea in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibits the sale of weapons to Pyongyang, according to media reports.
The 84-meter long “Harmony Wish,” which flies a so-called Cambodian flag of convenience, was carrying 16-wheeler trucks that were delivered to Nampho in North Korea from Shanghai by a Chinese state-owned company in August, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported on Wednesday.
It is possible that the North Korean government showcased the vehicles during a military parade in Pyongyang in April that commemorated the birth of former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. …
A 144-tonne shipment of Cambodian fragrant rice will leave Phnom Penh for Fuzhou, China on Saturday, the first Chinese order for the Kingdom’s milled rice after a recent government agreement was reached on Chinese regulation.
Mekong Oryza Trading received the order months earlier…
Local rice miller Mega Green said it planned to export about 240 tons of milled rice to the Chinese market by the end of June – a second round of test exports to Cambodia’s northern neighbour.
Renne Outh, owner of Mega Green Imex Cambodia, told the Post yesterday that he signed an agreement with a Chinese company in Shanghai during a business trip there last week. …
China sees Cambodia as one of the potential trade and investment partners among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and pledges to boost closer economic ties between the two countries, said a senior Chinese official on Tuesday. …
Wan Jifei…said that his visit to Cambodia was to boost closer cooperation between China and Cambodia on trade and investment. …
