More than 10,000 families have poured into an area of Prey Lang forest in Kampong Thom province since January, clearing 20,000 hectares of trees to sell as luxury timber and building houses, Prey Lang Community Network members claimed yesterday. …
Many are believed to be from Kampong Cham, Kratie, Kampong Thom, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Takeo provinces. …
Ouch Sam On, Kampong Thom deputy governor, said the number of families who had migrated to the forest was nowhere near 10,000 and the area they had logged was at the edge of Prey Lang rather than in it. …
A sub-decree in 2011 established Prey Lang as a protected conservation, forbidding clearing of the forest for private ownership. …
HIDDEN in the labyrinth of Stung Meanchey province’s factories, the Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise (SGFE) found a cleaner way to produce charcoal: from coconut shells and industry leftovers. It is still one of the principal sources of energy for cooking in urban areas.
Chief Executive Carlo Figà Talamanca runs his fingers through the black dust as he explains the production process. Resources – shells and burned wood from a neighbouring factory’s gasifiers – are numerous, but the output is still low due to the factory’s small capacity. …
The so-called char-briquettes, which cost 1,100 riel per kilogram, burn between two and five hours and produce less smoke.
According to Talamanca, they also contribute to the reduction of deforestation, saving “over 2,000 trees per year [or 10 hectares of natural rainforest] leading to a reduction of 1,250 tonnes per year of CO2 emissions.” …
The government launched Thursday a $200 million project to divert water from the Mekong River to irrigate 300,000 hectares of rice fields in Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Kampong Cham provinces. …
Under the first phase, estimated to cost $100 million, canals will be restored between Koh Sotin district in Kampong Cham and Sithor Kandal district in Prey Veng (13 kilometers), and between Sithor Kandal and Kamchay Mea district, also in Prey Veng (27 kilometers). …
The area of cassava under cultivation fell by 11.5 per cent across the country this season, while the price of cassava chips remained the same as last season’s price. Officials blamed an unstable price during the previous season (from April to April) for the drop.
According to estimated production data issued by the Department of Planning and statistics at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, cassava growing covered only 346,594 hectares compared with last season, which saw 391,714 hectares. …
The report added that Cambodian people had grown a great deal of cassava in all provinces, but some provinces – Kampong Cham with 67,427 hectares, Battambang with 57,020 hectares, Banteay Meanchey with 44,473 hectares, Kratie with 33,180 hectares, Svay Rieng with 23,792 hectares and Pailin with 22,320 hectares – increased their production.
The estimated harvest dropped about 1.17 million tonnes – from 8.03 million tonnes to 6.86 million tonnes this season. …
Cambodia’s export business is in the process of changing due to shifts in manufacturing in Asia. A business publication in the country has reported unexpected growth in the “machinery and transport equipment” sector and speculated it was as [sic] “probably bicycles.” But when Cambodia jumped into the top ten exporters of bicycles to the EU in 2012, it prompted the European Bicycle Manufacturers’ Association (EBMA) to investigate.
The EBMA discovered that bicycle companies had moved their production to Cambodia from Thailand and China, citing increased expenses. The move is estimated to save 14 percent on taxes. A favourable scheme is in place for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) known as the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement. The EBA allows countries ranked among the 48 LDCs to export products duty-free to the EU, except arms and ammunition. …
The Special Economic Zone (SEZ), according to a USAID report, offers pro-business perks to investors, a quick turnaround on red tape, low taxes, low wages, ease of doing business and a “young and educated” population. The report listed 1,500 workers in the bicycle industry. The minimum monthly salary then for factory work was 60 dollars a month, or 33 cents per hour, which would necessitate working six days per week to make 60 dollars monthly. Dated 2008, this shows that wages have not risen in four years. …
More than 2,000 student volunteers yesterday were sent to measure land in 19 provinces, starting the second phase of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nationwide land-titling program.
Of the 2,016 volunteers, 1,362 are new and the rest are returning for the second time. …
More than 1,000 workers protested in front of the soon-to-be-closed Svay Rieng Cambodia Garment factory yesterday to demand better severance benefits, and nearly half of them then marched to the provincial hall to seek help from government officials, workers said yesterday.
Worker representative Pang Tra said that the workers began protesting last Tuesday, after the factory informed them it would close on January 1 because the company had been transferred to a new owner. …
In May, the first group of vegetable producers in Cambodia was certified on the basis of COrAA’s “Standards for Chemical-free Crop Production”.
The 72 farmers, belonging to the Women Chemical-free vegetable-producing group of the Vegetable Supply Co-operative in Svay Rieng, have been producing healthy vegetables for several years. But the certification gives them a boost in marketing as they now sell also more vegetables in Phnom Penh. …
For many years the production of organic and chemical-free produce was chiefly in the hands of small-scale producers, commonly cultivating just a few hundred square meters In view of the increasing demand, several commercial farms are currently establishing the cultivation of organic vegetables on a larger scale. Two of these farms are now certified as producers of chemical-free vegetables.
A lack of rain across the country is affecting more than 145,000 hectares of rice paddy and parts of the nation’s crop have already been completely destroyed, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Hem Sophal, director of the statistics department at the ministry, said that of the 1.92 million hectares of land currently being used to cultivate rice, 135,464 hectares have been damaged by drought, while about 10,000 hectares have been destroyed. …
Of the drought-affected areas, Battambang, Kompong Chhnang, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Pursat and Takeo provinces are the worst affected, according to Mr. Sophal. …
The Svay Rieng Provincial Court has wrapped up an investigation of February’s triple shooting of female garment workers in Bavet City, a case in which the city’s former governor, Chhouk Bundith, is still the only suspect, a court official said yesterday. …
The court has charged Mr. Bundith with causing unintentional injuries for using his personal firearm to shoot three women during a factory protest.
Independent court observers and human rights defenders have said the charge is insufficient given eyewitness accounts that showed that he had knowingly opened fire on a crowd of protesters on Feb. 20 in a special economic zone. …
Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project-a legal rights NGO-said it is difficult to predict the outcome of the case. ”I don’t think he will go to jail,” Mr. Sam Oeun said. …
Drought has been hitting 11 out of the 24 cities and provinces in Cambodia and affecting tens of thousands of hectares of rice seedlings, Keo Vy, spokesman and chief of the Cabinet of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said Thursday
The drought-hit provinces are Kampong Speu, Takeo, Svay Rieng, Kandal, Prey Veng, Kampot, Battambang, Pursat, Banteay Meanchey, Uddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear. “If it persists for a longer period, there will be more damage,” he said…
More than 100 villagers from Svay Rieng province’s Romeas Hek district protested yesterday on land they say was stolen from them in 2007 and recently cleared by a former community representative, whose uncle is a local commune chief Villagers said lang Hai, who acted as a community representative for 671 families in Andong Trabek commune and led efforts to protect the 350-hectare plot since 2002, had since banned villagers from using the land.
Suon Seiha, one of the protesting villagers, claimed that Mr. Hai had hired police to threaten the villagers after telling them that he had been granted a rubber and cassava plantation.
Mr. Hai could not be reached, but his uncle, Lang Hun, the Andong Trabek commune chief, said his nephew had been granted a concession from the district governor in September. “I don’t have the authority to resolve this problem; only high officials can do that,” he said. But deputy governor Phen Sokun denied that a concession had been granted. …
The Svay Rieng Provincial Court has placed former Bavet City Governor Chhouk Bundith under court “supervision” after questioning him last week in connection to the Feb. 20 shooting of three female factory workers, according to investigating Judge Pech Chhoeut.
Mr. Chhoeut said the ex-governor was questioned on May 22 over his role in the shooting of the three garment workers during a protest at a Bavet City special economic zone. Though witnesses say Mr. Bundith fired at the workers during a factory protest, the provincial prosecutor has charged him with causing unintentional injuries. …
German sportswear brand Puma is seeking information on why the Svay Rieng Provincial Court decided to charge former Bavet City Governor Chhouk Bundith with causing unintentional injuries, a Puma representative said yesterday.
Mr Bundith is the sole suspect in a shooting in Bavet City on February 20 that injured three female factory workers from the Kaoway Sports Factory. Kaoway supplies shoes to Puma, which sent a representative after the shooting to investigate the incident…
Despite admitting yesterday to firing his pistol during last month’s protest at a Svay Rieng province special economic zone (SEZ), where three women were shot, Bavet City’s former governor Chhuk Bundith was free to return home after making his confession to the court.
“[Mr. Bundith] came to answer me face-to-face and confessed that he came to the demonstration to negotiate [with protesting workers] and he shot into the air,” Svay Rieng Provincial Court prosecutor Hing Bunchea said.
When asked whether Mr. Bundith confessed that the bullets he fired from his gun had hit the three female protesters, Mr. Bunchea declined to comment. …
As the court questioned Mr. Bundith yesterday, international and local human rights groups kept up the pressure on the government, releasing statements urging a transparent investigation free of political interference and to make the arrest of the SEZ shooter “an utmost priority.”…
Some of the world’s largest international clothing brands, along with foreign labor protection groups, have called on the Cambodian government to intensify its investigation of last month’s triple shooting of spectators at a Svay Rieng special economic zone. …
Signed by several of the biggest customers of the domestic garment industry, including H&M, American Eagle Outfitters and Columbia, the statement is the strongest condemnation to date from international buyers over both the shooting and the government’s still unsolved, and at times baffling, investigation of the prime suspect – former Bavet City Governor Chhuk Bandith. …
Jill Tucker, chief technical adviser of the International Labor Organization’s Better Factories Cambodia, said the buyers’ joint letter reflected a feeling shared by other international buyers. “I think that the brands are concerned that it’s three weeks later and no arrests have been made,” Ms. Tucker said, adding that she has been told as much during conversations with representatives of clothing brands that source from Cambodian factories. … “It’s just one factor in many. But with the faintings, this is really just one more [factor], and we really don’t need one more.”
Triple-shooting suspect Chhouk Bandith has been sacked as Bavet town governor to prevent him from interfering in court proceedings, the Svay Rieng deputy provincial governor said yesterday.
The high-profile suspect is accused of shooting three garment factory workers at a protest outside the Kaoway Sports Ltd shoe factory in Svay Rieng’s Manhattan special economic zone last month.
Svay Rieng deputy governor Men Vibol said Chhouk Bandith’s governorship was terminated by a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on March 6, a day after he was issued a summons by the provincial court for questioning next Friday.
“The reason that the governor was fired from his position is because they make a way for the court to take action following the court procedure,” he said, suggesting that court officials might be unwilling to take action because of his position.
The sub-decree, also signed by Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, orders that Chhouk Bandith be given an unspecified position in the Svay Rieng provincial administration, he added.
Since the shooting on February 20, Bavet town hall officials have reportedly made repeated visits to the three victims, offering them sums ranging from US$500 to $1,000 in exchange for agreeing not to press charges against Chhouk Bandith. Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said the move would strip Bandith of his influence over local police, government and court officials. …
Eight SET international (SI) schools have closed nationwide over the past two months because of financial problems, and the remaining two schools in Phnom Penh and Kompong Chhnang provinces also appear poised to shut their doors soon, a Ministry of Education official said.
The abrupt closings – in Siem Reap, Kampot, Svay Rieng, Battambang, Pursat, Banteay Meanchey, Kompong Cham and Takeo provinces – occurred because their parent company is bankrupt, a Ministry of Education official said. …
Currently, applicants wishing to open a school in Cambodia must present bank reciepts, but Mr. Sida said Education Ministry officials are discussing the creation of a law that would require banks to hold a portion of a school’s finances in reserve for just such situations. …
Bavet city officials ordered a deputy village chief to offer two victims of the Feb. 20 shooting in Svay Rieng province cash or a motorcycle in return for them not filing a court complaint against the man who shot them inside a special economic zone.
Sok Sea, deputy village chief of Prek Kdao village in Chrak M’tes commune, said that Bavet city police chief Keo Kong, his deputy Kao Horn, commune councilor Yin Kimyean and commune chief Huot Samai came to his office and ordered him to offer the deal to victims Bun Chenda, 21 and Keo Nea, 18. …
The offers of cash and motorcycles mark the second time the victims have been lobbied by the senior authorities, both provincial and national, bearing monetary gifts who want the victims to forego legal action against the shooter. The only suspect in the shooting is Bavet governor Chhuk Bundith, who has been summoned for questioning later this month.
The Governor of Bavet city Chhouk Bundit, who is suspected of being involved in shooting three garment workers last month, was removed from his position to make way for the court to look into the case.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen signed a letter on Monday to remove him (Chhouk Bundit) from the post to enable the court to carry out investigations into the case,” Svay Rieng province deputy governor Svay Rieng told Xinhua news agency Thursday.
On March 5, the Svay Rieng Provincial Court issued a letter to summon Chhouk Bundit for questioning for his role in the alleged shooting of three garment workers on February 20. ….
The shooting incident took place at the Manhattan Special Economic Zone (SEZ) situated in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet city, where some 3,000 workers from three factories — Kingmaker Footwear, Kaoway Sports and Sheico — were staging a protest seeking a salary increase.
