Buddha will be evicted next to make place for a Chinese company: The cause of Regress

02 June 2012
KI-Media

Today edition of the Phnom Penh Post reported that the next victim of eviction will be Buddha. Yes, Buddha, as in the statue in a pagoda!

According to the Post, Prek Smach village pagoda located in Koh Sdech commune, Kiri Sakor district, Koh Kong commune will be destroyed to make way for a land concession for the Chinese company Union Development Co. Ltd.

Prak Thon, a villager from Prek Smach, said: "I’ll allow them to demolish my house, but I will not allow them to destroy the pagoda. I’m satisfied if I die, because it is my religion"

There goes another broken promise by Samdach Hoon Xhen. His commie background and that of the Chinese company do show up after all: they are both Thmil (Atheist).

For a full report, please read The Phnom Penh Post

Adventure in the Cardamon Mountains where a Chinese dam is slated to build next year

Adventure in the Cardamon Mountains where a Chinese dam is slated to build next year, great concern for indigenous people and environmen​tal impact!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aPNJfa6iyE

Villagers take hostages

Five employees of Jing Zhong Ri Cambodia Co Ltd tied up yesterday in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district after a dispute with local residents. (Ratha Visal/Phnom Penh Post)

Thursday, 23 February 2012
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post

“The villagers just want to protect their land, it is not illegal”

The clearing of land for a Ratanakkiri rubber plantation had been frozen after more than 300 Tumpoun ethnic minority villagers captured a quartet of company security guards and another staffer, tied them up and held them hostage on Tuesday, company officials said yesterday.

Jing Zhong Ri Cambodia Co Ltd was granted a 70-year, 9,000-hectare “sustainable use zone” concession in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district in May and recently began clearing the area.

Tumpoun villagers claim the company has no right to bulldoze their farmland.

On Tuesday morning, they launched an offensive against JZR company property, tearing apart a bulldozer and another vehicle before advancing towards the company’s environmental office, Lumphat police chief Suoy Phay told the Post.

Sinohydro's first overseas BOT project begins operation

January 16, 2012
By Xu Keqiang
The Economic Daily
Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

Cambodia's Kamchay Hydropower Station, the first overseas Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) hydropower project entirely funded by Sinohydro Group, was recently completed and put into commercial operation, marking a new stage in the overseas expansion of China's hydropower industry.

The 194-megawatt Kamchay Hydropower Station cost Sinohydro 300 million U.S. dollars over four years of construction, and the company is licensed to operate the hydropower station for 40 years before transferring it to the Cambodian government.

Sinohydro has adopted the creative BOT project-financing model with limited recourse, and used the project's future revenue as collateral, in order to reduce its investment risk.

Chinese mine where workers were killed is under tight security

Prayers for the mine workers killed (Photo: Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer)

02 Jan 2012
By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Translated from Khmer by Soch

The Chinese mine which received the authorization to operate by the ministry of Mining and Energy at the end of 2011 to explore for gold is located in Sambo district, i.e. 40 km from Kratie city. The 13-km access trail to reach the mine from the national road is difficult to access.

About 7 km on the trail, one reaches the O’Po village, located in Kbal Domrey commune, Samdo district. There, a checkpoint is set up by the Chinese company with strict guard manned by the Kratie province cops. At this checkpoint, reporters are not allowed to get in following the incident which led to the death of Cambodian workers inside a mineshaft, however, [today] a group of reporters are allowed to enter because the military police stationed at the checkpoint know them.

On Thursday, inside the Xing Yuan Kanng Yeak mine, a praying ceremony was taking place to commemorate the spirits of the workers who were killed.

Today, there are not many workers there, only 4 or 5 of them can be seen. The workers gave an interview to VOA, telling us that more than 90% of the workers left to return home after their co-workers died.

Cheap Cambodian life: $13,000 only!!!

Chinese Company To Be Questioned in Miners’ Deaths

Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“If we find the company was exploring without following specifications, we will consider withdrawing its license.”

The Ministry of Mines and Energy says it will call an urgent meeting with a Chinese gold mining company, after a mine flood killed eight Cambodian workers last week.

The eight men died on Friday, when a controlled explosion underground ruptured a water source, flooding the mine in Kratie province’s Sambor district.

Cambodia has opened an increasing number of mines in recent years, seeking to tap its mineral wealth as a potential source of national revenue.

Cambodia to get its first drop of oil by end of 2012

Thu, 12/15/2011
Rasmei Kampuchea Daily, The Asia News Network

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has begun drilling in Block F, nearly 40km south of Sihanoukville in southern Cambodia, Council of Ministers Press and Quick Reaction Unit spokesman Ek Tha said Wednesday.

"CNOOC’s chief executive told Deputy Prime Minister HE Sok An today about the company drilling its first well since it got the oil and gas exploration project in 2007," he said.

The spokesman said Sok An welcomed the drilling and asked about CNOOC’s decision in Block F.

CNOOC to start drilling 1st oil well in Cambodia

2011-12-14
Xinhua

PHNOM PENH - The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) will start drilling the first well in the Block F offshore in Cambodia's Preah Sihanouk province later this month, Li Fanrong, the company's Chief Executive Officer, said Wednesday.

His disclosure was made during a meeting with Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, minister of the council of ministers, according to Ek Tha, spokesman and deputy director of the Council of Ministers' Press Department.

Li Fanrong said the start of the drilling showed the firm's commitment to investing in Cambodia's oil and gas sector and it resulted from good and long relationship between Cambodia and China, according to Ek Tha.

The first well drilling is expected to cost 20 million US dollars.

Situation of Human Rights Violation by​ the Economic Concession Chinese Company in Kirisakor, Koh Kong province

Source: ADHOC Land Program

Situation of Human Rights Violation by​ the Economic Concession Chinese Company in Kirisakor, Koh Kong province

After Government granting Economic Land Concession over 36000 ha to Union Development Group Co., Ltd for development of Tourist Resort, China Town since 2008; 1143 families affected significantly and until now living condition of people is stepping down to zero, they lived in fear, vulnerable,in bad situation, unpleasant rights and freedom; especially they were marginalized with no support from Government or Donors at all.

Rights to speak up, to assembly, to protest legitimately of villagers were entirely infringed,it seems that they lived in side territorial secession area take place with terrible. Both economic and social sections are under protectorate by authoritarian group stay behind the Chinese company. Meanwhile, local authorities: village,commune, district and provincial level also incapable to protect villagers. The travel to inside and outside the compound was prevented or checked up thoroughly; cultivate products, crops and yields of fishing were not allowed people to collect, gather; prevented by armed forces. The barricades were setup prohibited human rights NGO, journalist, tourism, and travelers from passing to inside of old villages, the real situation of old village was hidden where remaining people are still living there.

Recently,although Chinese company try to construct and pave road, to construct working sites but it is for sake of company it was not done for people; the such development make livelihood and living condition of farmer and fishing people get devastated and ruined down because of the Economic Land Concession granted to Chinese company. The hard and long time manufacture humanly of pagoda, school, market and town by community forces was destroyed completely.

China firm plans bauxite processing plant in Kratie [-Another involvement by the shady Herdos Hongjun Co.]

Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Don Weinland and May Kunmakara
The Phnom Penh Post

China's Erdos Hongjun planned to build a bauxite processing plant in Kratie province as part of the company’s US$1.5 billion venture in the Kingdom’s northeast, provincial officials said yesterday.

The plant would serve Erdos’s mine in neighbouring Mondulkiri, an exploration licence for which was granted by the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, according to a list of mining companies operating in the province obtained by the Post.

Kong Pisith, director of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy’s Mondulkiri office, confirmed yesterday that Cambodia International Investment Development Erdos Hongjun Aluminum Company had set up an office in the province last year and was exploring a 360-square-kilometre bauxite concession.

Police Break Up Lake Protesters at Chinese Embassy

A group of around 30 demonstrators had gathered in front of the embassy, on Mao Tse Tung Blvd., to protest the involvement of a Chinese company with a local developer.

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer

Phnom Penh Monday, 17 January 2011

“The embassy did not accept their letter.”

Phnom Penh municipal police armed with electric batons and shields dispersed a small group of protesters in front of the Chinese Embassy Monday morning.

A group of around 30 demonstrators had gathered in front of the embassy, on Mao Tse Tung Blvd., to protest the involvement of a Chinese company with a local developer that is forcing thousands of families from their homes near Boeung Kak lake.

No one was injured in the clash. Protesters had prepared a letter for the embassy, but embassy officials would not accept it.

Huadian secures financing for hydropower plant in Koh Kong

July 20, 2010
TendersInfo

Financing for a US$412 million hydropower plant to be built in Koh Kong province has been agreed, according to lawyers who oversaw the deal.

The Singapore branch of international law firm Herbert Smith confirmed that it had reached the close on the energy plant deal for the Steung Russei Chrum Kraon hydropower project. The plant is to be built and owned by affiliates of China s Huadian Power International Corporation. The firm gave legal advice to the Export-Import Bank of China, which signed a financing deal with Huadian. We are very pleased to achieve the close on a major financing project such as this. It is one of the largest foreign investments in Cambodia to date and will no doubt be seen as an important step in the evolution of that power sector.

Even communist China is involved in land-grabbing in Cambodia?

Protesters target resort plans

Tuesday, 18 May 2010
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

HUNDREDS of villagers from Koh Kong province say they will gather at the National Assembly in Phnom Penh today to protest against a Chinese company they say has cheated them out of land to make way for a US$3.8 billion seaside resort project.

Locals say China’s state-owned Union Development Group, which is developing the 36,000-hectare coastal tourist zone, has reneged on promises to provide compensation for more than 1,000 families affected by the project in Botum Sakor and Kiri Sakor districts.

Keo Khorn, a village representative, said that during negotiations with provincial authorities and company representatives in January, villagers were told they would receive compensation of $8,000 per hectare. But he said they are now being offered only $300 per hectare and told that if they do not accept, they will receive nothing. Most villagers, he added, have refused to accept the lower offer.

Villager Che Hean said that on April 29, the provincial governor showed villagers a letter signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen that cancelled their land titles and said their land had been awarded to Union Development Group.

“The letter cancelled the villagers’ land titles and ... set a one-month deadline for villagers to move off the land,” he said. “The deadline has nearly been reached, so the villagers are worried we will lose our land. That is why we will go to ask for the prime minister’s help.”

Though most villagers have 20 to 30 hectares of land, the authorities are also only offering to provide 5 hectares’ worth of compensation to each family, he added.

The concession, which was approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) in 2008, also appears to be in violation of Article 59 of the Land Law, which limits concessions to 10,000 hectares.

“I am not surprised,” said Ou Virak, president of Cambodian Center for Human Rights. “There are a lot of Chinese and Vietnamese companies which receive more than the legal limit.”

Kiri Sakor district Governor Chheng Chhe said villagers had travelled to Phnom Penh to protest because they suspected district officials had colluded with the company to cheat them. “If we had known this before, we would not have allowed them to go to Phnom Penh,” he said.

He said that about 100 families have agreed to relocate so far. “We will provide each family with 2 hectares of farmland and a 50-metre-by-100-metre plot on which they can construct a home,” he said.

Ouch Leng, land programme officer for rights group Adhoc, said the government should intervene in land disputes pitting property developers against villagers in order to find an “acceptable resolution”.

“The government thinks too much about money, they do not care about the law,” he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY WILL BAXTER

Cambodia: Shanghai Co. awarded to build new deep-sea port and deliver lifting equipment

Jan 27th, 2010
DeredgingToday.com

CHINESE company Shanghai Co has been selected by the government to develop infrastructure at Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP).

Hei Bavy, director general of PPAP, told the Post Wednesday that the business has been awarded the rights to develop the port from the Cambodian government. It is set to start the project this March and due to finish 30 months later.

The scheme will be funded by a US$30 million Chinese loan, announced by the government in October.

In its first stage, Shanghai will equip the 59-year-old port with modern goods-lifting equipment and build a new port for storing containers in a deep-water area. This will be situated on the Mekong River, in Kien Svay district, 20 kilometres east of Phnom Penh.

“We hope more … containers will be shipped through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port because of this development project,” said Hei Bavy.

It is hoped that after development the port will be able to load from 120,000 to 300,000 standard containers of goods per year, he added. At present, it is able to load a maximum of 50,000 to 60,000 per year.

In 2009, PPAP shipped only 43,500 standard containers of freight, a drop of 7.44 percent compared with 2008, due to the global economic crisis.

Hei Bavy predicted that the shipment of freight at PPAP this year might reach 60,000 containers, due to a predicted increase in rice exports and some other agricultural products.

“I believe that Cambodia will continue to develop in the future. There will be bigger demand for produce, which means transportation services will need to expand too,” Hei Bavy said.

Last week, Chan Nora, secretary of state of the Ministry of Commerce, predicted that business in Cambodia would improve this year because large amounts of agricultural products like rice, corn and rubber had been reserved for export.

China, Australia to Build Final Leg of Asian Railway [in Cambodia]

Man drives homemade wooden cart on railroad in Kampong Chhnang province some 50 kilometers north of Phnom Penh (2008 file photo)

By Luke Hunt
Voice of America
Phnom Penh
15 May 2009

Chinese and Australian engineers are gearing up to build the final stretch of track in the Trans-Asian Railway, which will link Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand with Vietnam and China through Cambodia. The Cambodian government has divided the country's railway system in two. Australia's Toll Holdings takes control of old French-built lines in the east, which run from the capital to the Thai border and south to Sihanoukville, home to one of the largest ports in the Gulf of Siam.

The China Railway Group has the contract to carry out a feasibility study that will link Phnom Penh with Snoul near this country's western border with Vietnam.

This 255-kilometer stretch will complete the Singapore-to-Kunming line, a railway connecting southeast Asia to the heart of China.

Paul Power is an advisor to the Cambodian government and team leader for the Asian Development Bank's involvement in the reconstruction of Cambodia's railways. He says the railway's economic benefit for the region and Cambodia will be enormous.

"It makes Cambodia the hub of transportation between China and Singapore and you would have a port link, you would have a link to Thailand, you'll have a link through to Vietnam," Power said, "and the implications for that, for Cambodia in the region, are that Cambodia becomes the hub."

He says freight will provide the greatest economic benefits, particularly for shipping bulk goods like rice. The railway will be a cheaper alternative to ships and trucks.

However, the contractors first must deal with the thorny issue of resettling people living along the route. In Cambodia, poor landholders often are pushed out with little compensation to make way for commercial developments, causing considerable public anger.

Power says the companies working on the railway are aware of the problems that have afflicted other construction projects and thinks they can avoid similar difficulties.

If the resettlement issues are resolved quickly then authorities hope the first passengers from Singapore to China and beyond as far as London, will start boarding within the next two years.

Wuhan to buy in iron ore mines in Australia and Cambodia

Wednesday, 11 Mar 2009
Source: sina

According to Mr Deng Qilin board Chairman of Wuhan Steel noted on March 6th that the company would purchase iron ore mines in Australia and Cambodia. However, details aren't provided. Meanwhile, Wuhan Steel is to take part in iron ore project in Madagascar. And the mill still waits for notice after local government put off the public bidding.

Despite these, Mr Deng president of China Iron & Steel Association told to the media that the two rounds of iron ore talks ended without results. But, the pricing power leans to China, due to weak situations remain in occident and Japanese markets. To be clear, those ore exporters have to cut price to maintain their businesses. He added Wuhan Steel had suggested Ministry of Commercial to further elevate the rebate for quality steel export.

He still hopes that Govs will underscore the elimination of obsolete capacity, the release of quality capacity and the deeper regroup in steel sector.

CPP's gift to Kampong Speu: Flattened mountain by Chinese company

Kompong Speu, Cambodia--this hill among many in this province are flattened by a China's owned company as "concessions" granted by the Cambodian Government. Click on the photo to zoom in (Photo: V.O.)

Thank you, Mr. V.O. for sharing this photo!

Chinese company to conduct feasibility study on dams in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian government has given the go-ahead for a Chinese company to conduct feasibility study into building two hydropower dams on the Sre Pok River, English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily said Thursday.

"It is just feasibility study to see whether or not they can do it," Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem was quoted as saying.

A memorandum of understanding was signed with the company in June to study the possibility of building the two dams, but the specific locations can't be told, said the minister.

"It is a big benefit to have cheap electricity because gasoline is so expensive," he added.

The agreement with Guangxi Guiguan Electric Power Co. Ltd. commits it to reviewing and analyzing the effects of the projects on the social, environmental and ecological conditions of the area.

The Sre Pok River runs through northeastern provinces of Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng.

Chinese Datang Corp. building hydropower plant in Cambodia ... whereabout unknown

Datang Corp expands to Cambodia with hydropower plant project

Jun. 3, 2008 (China Knowledge) - China Datang Corp, parent of the listed Datang International Power Ltd , announced that it has started the construction of a hydropower plant project in Cambodia, a fresh breakthrough achieved in its global expansion.

The plant, considered as the largest economy and technology cooperation project between the two countries, will help Datang to tap the fledging electricity industry in Cambodia where exists abundant but remote-located water sources.

The construction of the 120,000-kilowatt plant will have two phases. The first generator is expected to start operation in December, 2010.

The project will help Cambodia ease the pressure brought about by the mounting oil prices and boost the nation's economic development, said a senior official with the Cambodian government, adding that Datang Corp is an experienced power company with strong strength in plant building and administration.