Disputed land to be returned to villagers

ប្រមុខចោរ លួចដីរាស្រ្ត ម៉ុង រិទ្ធី ធ្លាប់ជាបរិវារ​ របស់ ឪចោរ ៧ មករា​ ១៩៧៩

More than 8,000 hectares of land was cut from economic and forest land concessions owned by some of the country’s biggest tycoons and awarded to villagers last month, according to documents from the Council of Ministers.

Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen order that land from four high-profile disputed areas be divided among nearly 3,500 families in four provinces.

The land is from controversial concessions in Pursat, Stung Treng, Siem Reap and Preah Sihanouk provinces — each of which has been involved in long-standing land disputes.

Nearly 2,000 families in Stung Treng’s Thala Barivat district were awarded 3,553 hectares from concessions granted to Pheapimex Fuchang.

The company, owned by Choeng Sopheap, the wife of ruling-party senator Lao Meng Khin, has repeatedly found itself at the centre of land disputes

involving hundreds of thousands of hectares across several provinces.

In Siem Reap’s Chi Kraeng district, 196 families have been given 1,090 hectares from a concession owned by Kain Co Ltd. In May, 2012, families wrote directly to the premier, seeking intervention in their dispute with the rubber company.

In Pursat’s Veal Veng district, 311 hectares of land inside the Phnom Samkus wildlife sanctuary, along with 2,977 hectares owned by MDS Import Export, was awarded to 835 families. The latter is carved from a 4,373 hectare economic land concession owned by MDS Import Export Co, Ltd, which has been locked in a long-standing land dispute with hundreds of families, who maintain the company has illegally grabbed their land.

And 305 families living in Preah Sihanouk were given 411 hectares in Prey Nop district that formerly belonged to businessman Mong Reththy.

The re-assignment follows months of land demarcation undertaken by cadastral officials working for provincial land management committees on behalf of Hun Sen’s large-scale land-titling initiative.

In May, amid mounting pressure, the premier issued a moratorium on economic land concessions and called for a reexamination of existing concessions.

A month later, he ordered provincial authorities across the country to demarcate land as part of a titling scheme intended to impact millions. (Though wide-reaching, the former initiative has come under fire, with observers noting that a loophole in the moratorium has given the go-ahead to an unknown number of ELCs already in the pipeline at the time of the ban.)

Mong Reththy, chairman of the eponymous Mong Reththy Group, said he supported the sub-decree, and noted that the land awarded was just a fraction of his concession, which totals more than 11,000 hectares.

“The land cutting has a small impact on my company, but it doesn’t matter, because it benefits the residents who farm their lands, and I will continue to invest my land,” he said.

Lim Leang Se, deputy chief of Hun Sen’s cabinet, declined to comment on the sub-decrees signed by the premier, and referred questions to the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. Ministry spokesman Beng Hong Socheat Khemro could not be contacted yesterday. Further details on the ELCs could not be obtained from the listing hosted on the Ministry of Agriculture’s website, as the page had been breeched by a pro-Taliban hacker.

Senior investigator for rights group Adhoc, Chan Soveth, said the carving of these concessions was a step in the right direction, but urged that more focus be paid to areas in dispute, noting that much of the land demarcation thus far has addressed only non-disputed territory.

“The action of the government can reduce land disputes, but [in order to do so], the government should focus on land disputes,” said Soveth.

Cambodia’s garment workers to get pay rise for 2013

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) — Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Monday agreed to increase salaries for the workers in the kingdom’s garment and footwear industries, according to a press release after a closed door meeting.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Social Affairs Ith Samheng, Minister of Labor Vong Sauth, GMAC’s president Van Sou Ieng, and representatives of trade unions in Cambodia.

“The meeting agreed in principle to discuss wage increase for the workers,” the press release said. “All trade unions should meet among them to set a unanimous proposal on minimum pay rise for workers in order to negotiate with employers.”

It said the International Labor Organization would be a coordinator for this task.

According to the press release, all relevant parties will meet again on Feb. 26 in order to decide the minimum pay rise.

The wage hike negotiation was made after trade unions repeatedly appealed to the government to urge manufacturers to increase salaries for the workers from the year 2013.

“Currently, minimum wage for a worker is 61 U.S. dollars a month. It is very low when prices of food and fuel are rocketing up, so it severely affects workers’ living conditions,” Chea Mony, president of Free Trade Union of Workers, which is the kingdom’s largest trade union, wrote in a request to the GMAC’s president Van Sou Ieng earlier this month.

“To facilitate workers’ difficulties, I’d like to ask the president to discuss and increase the minimum wage for a worker to 120 U.S. dollars a month,” he said.

Garment industry is Cambodia’s largest foreign exchange earner. The sector comprises more than 300 factories, employing some 335, 400 workers–91 percent of them are female.

The country exported garment and textile products in equivalent to 4.6 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 8 percent year-on-year, according to a report of the commerce ministry last week.

The United States and European countries are the major buyers, and other clients are Canada, Japan, South Korea and China.

Cambodia’s national carrier adds new aircraft, targeting Singapore, China

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) — The national flag carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), added a new passenger plane on Sunday in order to expand new flight destinations to countries in the region, said a senior government official.

“The new Airbus 321 plane is leased from an Airbus manufacturer in France,” Tek Rethsamrach, secretary of state at the Council of Ministers and CAA’s president, told reporters at a new plane welcoming ceremony at the Phnom Penh International Airport on Sunday.

“The plane will be used to operate to key international destinations including Phnom Penh-Hanoi, Phnom Penh-Bangkok, and soon, we will expand flights to Guangzhou City in China’s Guangdong province, China’s Hong Kong and Singapore,” he said.

In the future, the CAA will also consider flying to one of India’s cities, he added.

Those destinations have great potential for Cambodia’s tourism, and the country has more active trade and investment relations with those countries and regions, he said.

To date, the CAA has two ATR-72 aircraft and three Airbus 321 aircraft, and has operated several international flights including Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap-Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap- Hanoi, Phnom Penh-Hanoi, and Siem Reap-Bangkok.

CAA officially launched operations in July 2009. It is a joint venture between the Cambodian government, which owns 51 percent of the stake, and Vietnam Airlines, which holds the remaining stake.

Tep Vong,once a Khmer Rouge cadre, is Cambodia Buddhist Monks patriarch busy blessing Yuon owned plane.

Cambodia greets 3.2 mln foreigners in Jan.-Nov. 2012

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) — Cambodia has greeted some 3.2 million foreigners in the first eleven months of 2012, up 24 percent compared with 2.58 million visitors in the same period a year earlier, showed the latest statistics of Tourism Ministry on Thursday.

From January to November last year, Vietnam topped the chart among the top ten arrivals to the country with 699,650 visitors, up 24 percent year-on-year, followed by South Korea with 367,950 visitors, up 21 percent, and China with 297,920, up 35 percent, the report said.

It added that its neighbors — Laos and Thailand — ranked No. 4 and 5 respectively. About 225,020 Laotians and 177,320 Thais visited Cambodia during the period, up 95 percent and 75 percent respectively.

According to the report, 48 percent of visitors came to Cambodia by air, 50 percent by overland ways and the rest by waterway.

The report also said that during the period, around 726,220 Cambodians traveled overseas, up 13 percent year-on-year.

Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting Cambodian economy. In 2011, the sector attracted 2.88 million foreign tourists, earning 1.91 billion U.S. dollars.

A 22-Storey Hotel To Be Built on Diamond Island … by Sok An partner,Overseas Chinese Investors in Cambodia

This guy collected his bloody property liability insurance benefits from the victims of Koh Pich stampede to build new hotel

13-12-2012 (AKP)The Toyoko Inn Co., Ltd. of Japan in cooperation with Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC), a local company, will build a 22-storey hotel called Toyoko Inn on Koh Pich (Diamond Island), Phnom Penh.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new hotel construction was held yesterday under the presidency of H.E. Im Chhun Lim, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.

The construction of this 305-room hotel is expected to complete in November 2014.

By CHEA Vannak

UN,Cambodia jointly hold workshop on Sustainable Energy for All

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) — The United Nations Development Program and Cambodian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy on Thursday jointly held a workshop on Sustainable Energy for All ( SE4All) in order to discuss the future of sustainable energy in Cambodia.

The workshop, opened by Suy Sem, Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, and UN Resident Coordinator Douglas Broderick, was attended by 80 people from various ministries, development partners, non-governmental organizations and civil society.

Speaking at the event, Suy Sem said that energy sector was very vital to contribute to social and economic development.

He added that the government has set a specific goal to provide all villages with electricity of any type by the year 2020 and at least 70 percent of households will be able to access to grid quality electricity by 2030.

“To achieve this target, we need to increase investment in energy sector and promote the efficiency of energy,” he said.

He said that currently, Cambodia has consumed the electricity of about 635 megawatts including 400 megawatts in Phnom Penh.

The main sources of the electricity are from diesel-fueled generators, hydropower dams and coal plants besides purchasing from its neighboring Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

Douglas Broderick said the UN General Assembly declared 2012 the International Year of SE4All. As of Sept. 2012, 63 countries including Cambodia have joined the SE4All initiative.

He said that progress in energy access was very important to contribute to reducing poverty and achieving sustainable development.

Hun Sen says illegal labor not linked to passport costs…not Sen took the fees but the Passport officers!

PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) – Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that the incidence of Cambodians working illegally abroad had nothing to do with costly passports.

“We charge only $20 for work ​documents,” ​he ​​said during the opening of a new administration building at the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training.

“But we don’t charge for passports. We don’t ask for a penny,” Hun Sen said, adding that Finance Minister Keat Chhon “reports to me that we lose millions of dollars every year.”

The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training says it sent 50,851 workers including 33,787 women to work abroad through 39 private companies between 2009 and 2012. A further 6,564 workers were sent to South Korea.

Of the estimated 220,022 Cambodians working illegally in Thailand, 99,196 have legalized their status.

Cambodians working abroad send an estimated $200 million back to the country every year.

Samsung not too smart to steal Apple patented apps making own smartphones

U.S. District Judge told lawyers that jurors appeared to miscalculate damages when it found that 26 of Samsung’s smartphones and tablets were built with technology owned by Apple.

7-12-2012 (AP) San Jose,CA-A federal judge appears ready to reduce a $1.05 billion jury verdict Apple Inc. won over Samsung Electronics.

During a hearing Thursday in a San Jose federal courtroom, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh told lawyers for both companies that jurors appeared to miscalculate damages and she was inclined to trim the award.

Koh didn’t specify how much of the award she might cut, saying she would rule later on a host of legal demands made by both companies.

A jury in August found 26 of Samsung’s smartphones and computer tablets were built with technology owned by Apple.

Samsung is seeking a new trial while Apple is arguing for an increase in the damage award. Koh said she would issue several rulings in the coming weeks.

Cambodian Parliament approves 3.1 bln USD gov’t spending for 2013

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) — Despite strong opposition by opposition parties, Cambodia’s National Assembly on Friday adopted the budget of 3.1 billion U.S. dollars for government spending in 2013, up from 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2012.

Seventy eight out of 88 lawmakers, who were present at the National Assembly’s session, passed the proposed budget law.

The budget law for 2013′s expenses is equal to 19.8 percent of the country’s GDP, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon said during the session.

He said the country’s GDP this year was expected to grow by 7 percent to 15.6 billion U.S. dollars. “The government spending in 2013 is to ensure the sustainable economic growth of around 7 percent and to reduce poverty rate at least 1 percent a year,”he said.

According to the minister, Cambodian per capita GDP will surpass 1,000 U.S. dollars in 2013, up from 909 U.S. dollars in 2011.

According to the adopted budget law for 2013, government spending will be focused on general administration, national defense, security, social affairs, education, health, infrastructure, agriculture and economic development.

The government will allocate some 400 million U.S. dollars toward the defense and security sectors in 2013, a 14.5 percent rise over last year’s allocation.

Social affairs spending will reach 686 million U.S. dollars, up 12.8 percent. In social affairs, the spending will be allocated to nine ministries including education, health, women’s affairs, social affairs, labor, culture, information, religion and environment.

General administration will receive 275 million U.S. dollars, up 18 percent, while the economic sector including the ministries of agriculture, rural development and water resources will get 148 million U.S. dollars, up 10 percent.

Keat Chhon said the government will continue providing a 20 percent pay raise to civil servants and armed forces in 2013.

According to the adopted budget law, the government is allowed to borrow up to 600 million SDR (about 923 million U.S. dollars), from foreign countries and development partners in 2013.

Opposition party lawmakers said they did not support the government to borrow up to 923 million U.S. dollars in 2013, and suggested that the government borrow a maximum of 200 million U.S. dollars from foreign countries.

They urged the government to increase tax collection, rather than borrow more money from foreign countries.

Meanwhile, Keat Chhon said that by the end of 2011, Cambodian government has owed foreign countries and development partners a total amount of 3.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Cambodia greets 2.86 mln foreign visitors in 10 months

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — Cambodia attracted approximately 2.86 million international tourists in the first ten months of this year, up 24 percent over the same period last year, a report of the tourism ministry showed Wednesday.

The report said Vietnam remains the largest source of foreign visitors to Cambodia with 638,560 tourists, up 24 percent, followed by South Korea with 337,700 visitors, up 23 percent, and China with 265,330, up 34 percent.

Its neighboring countries, Laos and Thailand were ranked at No. 4 and 5 respectively with 201,250 Laotians and 160,030 Thais visiting Cambodia, up 90 percent and 75 percent respectively.

The country has two world heritage sites, one is Angkor Wat Temple in Siem Reap province and the other is Preah Vihear Temple in Preah Vihear province.

The report showed that during the January-October period this year, about 1.64 million foreign visitors had visited Angkor Wat Temple, up 28 percent over the same period last year, whilst Preah Vihear Temple attracted 14,360 foreigners, up 84 percent.

The ministry predicted that the country could attract about 3.3 million foreign tourists in the whole year of 2012.

Tourism is one of the major four pillars supporting the economy. Last year, the sector received 2.88 million foreign tourists, earning revenues of 1.91 billion U.S. dollars.

Meanwhile, the report also recorded that during the first ten months of this year, about 656,240 Cambodians had travelled abroad, up 14 percent compared with the same period last year.