 |
| Ly Yong Phat, dubbed the CPP "King Kong" aka King of Koh Kong (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post) |
Jul 22nd, 2011
By David Boyle and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post
The “King of Koh Kong”, ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat, has been ordered to stop his company’s massive sand dredging operation on the Tatai river amid concerns it is decimating the waterway and ruining the tourist trade.
LYP Group has a permit to dredge at seven different sites on the Tatai river, totaling more than 32 square kilometres. Business owners and villagers, however, have complained the operations have reduced local fish stocks, released foul-smelling gasses and driven away tourists from the emerging ecotourism hot spot since May.
A letter ordering the temporary halt, signed by Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology, Lim Kean Hor, and obtained by The Post yesterday, identified several errors LYP Group had made, including pumping sand in the wrong locations and using excessively large equipment at the Koh Kong province operation.
“I would like to inform you that after on-site assessment of sand dredging activities of your company, we found out that the company has made some mistakes,” the letter dated July 15 reads.
The use of 20 to 30 boats – which each had a 500-cubic-metre capacity, eight cranes and four pumps – was “excessive”, and running dredgers 24-hours a day and pumping sand very close to river banks was a mistake, it read.
Mao Hak, director of rivers at the Ministry of Water Resources, said yesterday that a special committee would now reevaluate the environmental impacts of the dredging.
“The government’s sand dredging committee has been told to conduct a reevaluation of LYP and we began studying the issues immediately after the order came from Prime Minister Hun Sen,” he said yesterday.
Pech Siyon, director of the provincial Department of Industry, Mines and Energy, said yesterday Ly Yong Phat had ordered his boats and cranes to stop pumping sand on the Tatai river.
The senator, dubbed the “King of Koh Kong” in United States diplomatic cables released earlier this month, maintained his previously stated position yesterday that he dredged sand to alleviate flooding in the area.
“I am a person who has developed the most things in Koh Kong, as you know. After seeing this problem [flooding], if I didn’t help them who else would come to solve it?” he said.
“When it floods people lose their properties and cannot travel.”
But the stop order has been strongly welcomed by tourism operators in the area, who feared they would be run out of business.
Boats have already begun departing from the river, headed seaward, to the cheers of resort owners, Janet Newman, owner of Rainbow Lodge situated on the Tatai river, said on Wednesday.
“We’ve just been like ‘hooray, no boats’. This is actually really nice to have nothing going on the river anymore,” she said. “For the past two days we’ve seen no activity whatsoever.”
Chum Sok Korb, deputy director of Tatai Krom Eco-Tourism Association, said yesterday local villagers wanted all sand dredging in the area, both large and small scale, to be stopped.
“We are living here and depend on the land for plantations and for tourists to visit the beautiful eco-tourism site, but if it was impacted from the sand dredging it would be regrettable,” he said.
“The villagers want to see all sand dredging in the river stopped in order to save the beauty of this eco-tourist site for the tourists.”
Tim Martin, an investment analyst at tourism promotion firm Pacific Islands Trade and Invest, has previously told The Post that dredging in Koh Kong had received wide publicity within tourism trade publications and had concerned potential investors.
“This should be a concern to the Cambodian government, because other countries in the region, like Thailand, Laos and Pacific island nations are pushing for greater ecotourism investment,” he said.
“More generally, the dredging could damage investor confidence in Cambodia as a whole because investors will see the Cambodian government as being risky to deal with – they promise one thing, then go ahead and do something else.
“It may only take a few deals to go bad for Cambodia’s reputation as a safe investment destination to be damaged,” he added.
4 comments:
Fucking greedy son of a bitch.... when will be enough for him??? He own every thing in Cambodia and now he is trying to destroy the Koh Kong river... WHY???? Ly Yong Phat when you die you don't bring that billion dollars with you so when enough is enough???? why don't you retire and go see the world it might help you to think a bit clearer and stop fucking up the poor people in Cambodia. May hell bless you and be with you...
it is so wrong to exploit cambodia and koh kong for his own pocket! the revenue should go to help reform social development in cambodia, etc... it's time to say no more to ly yong phat, you know!
Ah Ly Yong Phat, if your business with sand is not good profit, then stones from Angkor Wat is the next goal for you, that right? As you know this land you can sell and buy all. Your clan do the same act like white men against Indiana in USA for 200 years a go, it means Khmer people as Native American and you clan as white men.
Koh Tral Island must not be forgotten
By Ms. Rattana Keo
Why do Koh Tral Island, known in Vietnam as Phu Quoc, a sea and land area covering proximately over 30,000 km2 [Note: the actual land size of Koh Tral itself is 574 square kilometres (222 sq miles)] have been lost to Vietnam by whose treaty? Why don’t Cambodia government be transparent and explain to Cambodia army at front line and the whole nation about this? Why don't they include this into education system? Why?
Cambodian armies are fighting at front line for 4.6 km2 on the Thai border and what's about over 30,000km2 of Cambodia to Vietnam. Nobody dare to talk about it! Why? Cambodian armies you are decide the fate of your nation, Cambodian army as well as Cambodian people must rethink about this again and again. Is it fair?
Koh Tral Island, the sea and land area of over 30,000 square kilometres have been lost to Vietnam by the 1979 to 1985 treaties. The Cambodian army at front line as well as all Cambodian people must rethink again about these issues. Are Cambodian army fighting to protect the Cambodia Nation or protecting a very small group that own big lands, big properties or only protecting a small group but disguising as protecting the Khmer nation?
The Cambodian army at front lines suffer under rain, wind, bullets, bombs, lack of foods, lack of nutrition and their families have no health care assistance, no securities after they died but a very small group eat well, sleep well, sleep in first class hotel with air conditioning system with message from young girls, have first class medical care from oversea medical treatments, they are billionaires, millionaires who sell out the country to be rich and make the Cambodian people suffer everyday.
Who signed the treaty 1979-1985 that resulted in the loss over 30,000 km2 of Cambodia??? Why they are not being transparent and brave enough to inform all Cambodians and Cambodian army at front line about these issues? Why don't they include Koh Tral (Koh Tral size is bigger than the whole Phom Phen and bigger than Singapore [Note: Singapore's present land size is 704 km2 (271.8 sq mi)]) with heap of great natural resources, in the Cambodian education system?
Look at Hun Sen's families, relatives and friends- they are billionaires, millionaires. Where did they get the money from when we all just got out of war with empty hands [in 1979]? Hun Sen always say in his speeches that Cambodia had just risen up from the ashes of war, just got up from Year Zero with empty hands and how come they are billionaires, millionaires but 90% of innocent Cambodian people are so poor and struggling with their livelihood every day?
Smart Khmer girl, President Ms. Rattana Keo,
Post a Comment