Gov't Plans To Sell Off Its Rubber Plantations
By Kay Kimsong and Erik Wasson
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Amid skyrocketing rubber prices, the government plans to sell off its seven rubber plantations by mid-2007, officials said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Agriculture is working with the Asian Development Bank to privatize the plantations, located in Kompong Cham and Kratie provinces, the ministry's Rubber Department Director Ly Phalla said.
"This plan will help the government handle having too many state rubber workers," he said.
ADB project manager Masahiro Otsuka said the privatization effort is part of a $25 million ADB project.
"[The government] recognizes a large potential for increased national benefits from divestment of state-owned enterprises through increased gains from, for instance, rapid increases in natural rubber prices," he wrote in an e-mail.
This year, the price of rubber on international markets has increased 55 percent and is expected to continue to rise due to high demand in China for tires.
There are six state-owned plantations operating in Kompong Cham province: Boeung Ket, Chamkar Anduong, Chub, Memot, Krek and Peam Chaing. Snuol Plantation is located in Snuol district, Kratie province. In 1997, one state-owned plantation in Ratanakkiri was sold to business tycoon Tai Seng, and another in Kompong Cham, called Tabao, was sold to businessman Kim Kao.
Tai Seng said he was not interested in buying another plantation.
"One plantation is giving me a headache already," he said. He said that by firing lazy workers he has been able to pay the most productive farmers $350 a month. This compares to $150 a month for workers at Chub, said the plantation's director-general, Mak Kimhong.
Kang Chandararot, director of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, said the government must conduct transparent bidding on the plantations to get the best value for them.
"The government must not simply nominate anyone to run the plantations," he said.
The Ministry of Agriculture is working with the Asian Development Bank to privatize the plantations, located in Kompong Cham and Kratie provinces, the ministry's Rubber Department Director Ly Phalla said.
"This plan will help the government handle having too many state rubber workers," he said.
ADB project manager Masahiro Otsuka said the privatization effort is part of a $25 million ADB project.
"[The government] recognizes a large potential for increased national benefits from divestment of state-owned enterprises through increased gains from, for instance, rapid increases in natural rubber prices," he wrote in an e-mail.
This year, the price of rubber on international markets has increased 55 percent and is expected to continue to rise due to high demand in China for tires.
There are six state-owned plantations operating in Kompong Cham province: Boeung Ket, Chamkar Anduong, Chub, Memot, Krek and Peam Chaing. Snuol Plantation is located in Snuol district, Kratie province. In 1997, one state-owned plantation in Ratanakkiri was sold to business tycoon Tai Seng, and another in Kompong Cham, called Tabao, was sold to businessman Kim Kao.
Tai Seng said he was not interested in buying another plantation.
"One plantation is giving me a headache already," he said. He said that by firing lazy workers he has been able to pay the most productive farmers $350 a month. This compares to $150 a month for workers at Chub, said the plantation's director-general, Mak Kimhong.
Kang Chandararot, director of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, said the government must conduct transparent bidding on the plantations to get the best value for them.
"The government must not simply nominate anyone to run the plantations," he said.
1 comment:
I hope AH HUN SEN don't forget to sell his underwear too!ahahahah
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