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| CPP Ly Yong Phat: The "King" Kong of Koh Kong |
Aug 10th, 2011
David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post
Ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat has defied an order endorsed by the Prime Minster to halt his controversial sand dredging activities on the Tatai river in Koh Kong, prompting authorities to request intervention, documents obtained by The Post reveal.
The dredging operation on the Tatai river has stirred up serious concern from tourism operators and villagers in the area, who have said it is destroying the local environment and driving customers away.
Government officials appear at loggerheads over the tycoon’s operations.
The Water Resources Minister has insisted in a letter that the so-called “King of Koh Kong” cease violating the ban, but provincial authorities have denied that dredging was even taking place. The Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy, meanwhile, has extended the LYP Group’s dredging licence by a year.
A blunt letter written by Minister for Water Resources Lim Kean Hor, dated August 4, called for the intervention of provincial governor Bun Leut to enforce a July 15 temporary ban on LYP Group dredging.
“The Sand Resource Management Committee already informed the company on July 15, 2011, to postpone the business activity so a study could be re-conducted. But up until now, the company has not yet postponed its business activities,” the letter reads.
The tycoon’s company had been found to be dredging beyond authorised boundaries and using too much equipment, it added.
Just days before the letter was sent, however, the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy issued LYP Group with a 12-month permit extension on July 28. The renewed license, also obtained by The Post, shows that Ly Yong Phat will now be allowed to continue dredging at seven locations until September 2012, though the total area of the permit will be reduced from 3,229 hectares to 1,241 hectares.
At that point LYP Group will have been dredging in the area for five years, the licence signed by industry minister Suy Sem stated.
Ly Yong Phat, Suy Sem, Lim Kean Hor and Bun Leut could not be reached for comment yesterday. But Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said yesterday he had visited the upper Tatai river last week and observed dredging near eco-resorts in the area, which he believes should be stopped immediately.
“All the companies shall listen to critical agencies that are involved there like the [Ministry of] Environment. All the businessmen that are involved in dredging in that area shall be stopped immediately,” he said.
He emphasised any halt would be temporary to allow further inspection of impacts from the dredging. Pech Siyon, Koh Kong provincial director department of Industry, Mines and Energy, denied yesterday dredging was taking place in the banned area and said he was not aware of any new licence granted to LYP Group either.
“LYP is still sand dredging in the lower Tatai, but operations at the upper Tatai have remained postponed as normal since the ban by Prime Minister Hun Sen,” he said, adding the sand was destined for export to Singapore.
Political wrangling has done nothing to ease the minds of affected residents.
Dredging operations are now taking place about 30 metres off the shore of the river’s Andaet island, resident Vora Huy Kanthoul said on Monday, raising his concern the entire land mass would collapse into the river.
“We have a problem, nobody can sleep at night, they do it at night and they’ve been doing that for about 10 days,” he said. Villagers who had agreed to embrace ecotourism instead of traditional forms of income had been sold short by dredging, while crab yields had reportedly dropped by 90 percent.
“They used to hunt illegal game and the local NGOs and the environmental NGOs have been very successful in changing their way of living from poaching to ecotourism, but now they say [dredging is] going to affect them so in the long run and that will really affect the economy,” he said.
Pech Siyon said his department wasn’t worried about public concern surrounding the impact of LYP Group’s operations on tourism investment and local livelihoods, but was focused on closely monitoring the company to ensure they respected regulations.
The Singapore Ministry of National Development has repeatedly failed to reply to inquiries.
8 comments:
it goes to show not all tycoon are honest and so on, you know. dredging is necessary for certain controlled areas, however, the business must also be monitored and supervised by proper authority as well because if not, dredging will take advantage of unsupervising and thus violate the areas that were prohibited, etc, really! of course, it has to be controlled by gov't as some areas of the riverbeds, etc do need to make way for deep shipping channel, etc! this kind of business is necessary to have in cambodia but it must be closely supervised and controlled with strict guidelines, you know! tyconn like this should not be allowed to do whatever he wants at the expense of cambodia and khmer people and citizens, etc, you know! there are rule of law, and they have to respect it, like it or not, ok! that's all! hey, this is not the dark ages era, ok! cambodia is more advanced than that, you know!
dredging business like any business is required licensing, so authority who licensed them should make sure to supervise and monitor their operation so this business does not violate the rule and regulations, etc, ok! think smartly about it, ok!
Do yoy thing ah Ph.D. with no education know how to controle?????
If World Organazation don't watch on ah Kwack Hun Xen the so called Royal Government of Cambodia! the evil will destroy Cambodia and the whole world!!!!!!
Hi Everyone,
One of KI-Media member who has his name in Facebook as Khmer Sovannaphumi but his real name is Pang Sokhoeun, former political asylum and now living in Sweden. He always copies news from here to post in his facebook profile to promote himself, but right now, he tries to removed and blocked anyone who dares to reveal his con activity particular he tries to hide what he has cheated his wife (Sreypov Chea) by having a girlfriend (Sokunthear Sam) behind his wife back. Now, his girlfriend had ran way from him after she knew his cheating.
A con man Pang Sokhoeun as well as KI-Media like to insult to the government officers who have affairs, but himself does even worse than other people. What a shame!
Just like termites and parasite,eating and eroding our land and resource just for their benefit.They are carless about the effect on the long run.Shame!
Although, my girlfriend had ran way from me and has a new boyfriend, it doesn't bother me much because I will use my con skills to get a daughter of Mr. Meng Ly as my new girlfriend.
NOTE: Mr. Meng Ly is known in KI-Media as Areak Prey.
alway bullshit story from Khmer government or official. this country is going down way down.
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