Vietnamese-funded fertiliser plant to be built in Cambodia

09/15/2009
VOV News (Hanoi)

Vietnam’s Five Star International Group plans to build a US$65-million fertiliser plant in Cambodia, according to Vietnam’s trade mission in Cambodia.

The project has been submitted to the Council for the Development of Cambodia for approval. If approved, construction of the factory would start in October and be completed after 20 months.

The planned location is Kien Svay district, 20 km to the east of Phnom Penh. The plant is designed to produce 350,000 tonnes of fertiliser a year.

Lim Sokun, Secretary of State of the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, welcomed the plan, saying that his country might supply up to 80 percent of the materials needed for the project.

Sokun said he hoped that the plant’s supply of fertiliser, along with providing new cultivation techniques, will help local farmers boost the productivity and the value of their agricultural products.

Once operational, the plant will also help Cambodia cut down its fertiliser imports, thereby reducing production costs.

Vietnamese firm to build fertilizer plant in Cambodia

Saturday, August 22, 2009
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

The Vietnam Five Star International Group on Friday said it will start work on a joint-venture fertilizer plant in Cambodia later this year.

The group will put up 90 percent of the chartered capital in a joint venture with the Investment and Development Joint Stock Company of Cambodia (IDCC) holding the remaining 10 percent.

Construction of the plant, located in Kien Svay District’s Samrong Thom Commune, is expected to be completed within 20 months.

Once completed, the US$65-million plant will produce 350,000 tons of fertilizer a year.

Cambodian Villagers Block Last Leg of Trans-Asia Highway

Traffic comes to standstill at Prek Eng, about 7 kilometers from Phnom Penh
Area where new road ends and old road starts at Kien Svay

By Luke Hunt Voice of America
Kien Svay, Cambodia
05 May 2009

A group of Cambodian villagers are blocking construction of a 13-kilometer section of a new highway that will link Singapore to Hong Kong and beyond. The villagers demand better compensation for their land.

Five years ago, then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared that the new Trans-Asia Highway would link 32 countries with 141,000 kilometers of all-weather roads.

The highway will end decades of overland isolation and significantly bolster cross-border trade in Asia. But here in Kien Svay, in southeastern Cambodian, villagers are refusing to give up their land and make way for a final missing link in the highway. They say they have been offered too little for their land.

Kim Lorn, a 72-year-old grandmother, says she was offered just $200 to walk away from her home and business of 26 years.

Many living in one home

Community meetings have turned into rowdy protests. Photo shop owner Kong Heng says the government refuses to take into account how many people are living under the same roof.

He says some people are upset when their houses are affected and they get little compensation because they have a lot of family members. He has three families living in his house so when if they get little compensation there is nothing they can do, and they are disappointed.

The villagers' defiance resonates across Cambodia, where land grabbing and forced evictions dominate headlines. Poor land records and a high level of official corruption have meant that over the past several years, tens of thousands of poor Cambodians have lost their land to developers building hotels, golf courses and other lucrative projects.
Project could take another year to finish

Cambodian officials say the protests mean that final link connecting the Malay Peninsula with Vietnam and China through Cambodia will not be completed on schedule by the end of this year.

They say nagging resettlement issues mean it will take at least another 12 months to finish.

Villagers here in Kien Svay hope this means vastly improved compensation packages in return for their homes.

NRP activist found dead on the street in Kandal province [-Foul play suspected]

17 May 2008
By Mom Sophon
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the original article in Khmer

One NRP activist in Banteay Dek commune, Kien Svay district, Kandal province, was found dead on a road in the commune today.

A high ranking NRP official indicated in the morning of 17 May that the death of the activist was a political murder and that a CPP official is suspected of involvement in the case because, in the past, he used to issue threats. However, the police claimed that the death was due to a fainting spell.

Muth Chantha, NRP spokesman, said that 47-year-old Sok Run lived in Kandal Leu village, Banteay Dek commune, Kien Svay district, and he is a NRP party activist. One day, prior to his death, he walked around to call on party members to come for a meeting.

Muth Chantha said: “He received threat from a CPP activist who forced him to resign from the NRP and join the CPP. The NRP considers this case as a political murder because the victim died while accomplishing his mission to gather activists to come to a meeting this morning. We regret about this mishap on our activist.”

Pa Sam It, a police inspector for Kien Svay district, indicated that a group of experts determined that the death was due to a fainting spell.

Pa Sam It said: “In our province, I visited the incident location, there was no sign of injury, but he was scratched (koas khyal), and on his ear, it looks like a hacking mark. Based on investigation expert team which included a doctor, the evaluation was that he (the victim) had a fainting spell because there is nothing to indicate that Brother Mean beat him up, he (Mean?) went to live in Kien (Svay), there was no fighting, where is the proof?”

An investigator for the Licadho human rights group indicated that in the past few months, the number of murder on political activists has increased, and these murders were committed against SRP activist in Siem Reap, HRP activist in Takeo, NRP activist in Svay Rieng and the latest NRP activist murder in Kien Svay.

Am Sam Ath, the Licadho investigator, said: “On the body (of the victim), we found a bruise on his chest, and on his right side, it looks like beating marks, he was bleeding from his mouth and ear. Near the body, we found sign of fighting along about 40-meter and there was track of the body being dragged over to be dumped next to a fence, next to the entrance of a house. Licadho, as well as other civil society organizations, we are very concerned about the violence which took place prior to the upcoming election, because this could affect the upcoming election campaign.”

Am Sam Ath indicated also that his group is continuing its research and gathering evidence in this murder case, and he also called on the police to continue its research to find the murderer also.

[Kien Svay] Villagers Angered at Land Poured in Lake

Kong Soth, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
05/04/2007

Hundreds of families in Kien Svay town, Kandal province, gathered in protest Thursday against a local company they say is pouring landfill into a lake.

Land around the town has rises and valleys, and during the rainy season, people farm to where the flooding stops, a villager who gave his name as Dy told VOA. This leads to a lack of boundaries, making it easier for a company to pour land into the lake, he said.

"We demand [the company owner] stop the activities," Dy said.

Cambodians are increasingly at risk for land grabs and encroachment, as rural and urban areas face development pressure and unscrupulous political and business leaders take valuable land from the poor.