China to Gamblers: Come to Cambodia

Chinese development at Botum Sakor National  Park

3/21/2012
Forbes

Pity the poor Chinese gambler. Barred from making legal bets in his own officially straight-laced country, he undergoes much trouble and expense to indulge his habit anywhere he can, from the new casinos of Macau and Singapore to Las Vegas, where a tiny band of baccarat players from the Mainland accounted for 42 percent of all table betting last year.

But if developers have their way, gamblers from China could soon enjoy a new East Asian haven where controls are few, the regime’s entirely on their side, and they have a free hand to displace locals and even bulldoze government nature preserves: Cambodia.

In the most recent deal, the Cambodian government sold off more than 130 square miles of a national park to a Chinese developer, Tianjin Union Development Group, which promises “extravagant feasting and revelry” and has already cut a 40-mile road through virgin forest that’s habitat to endangered tigers and elephants, and sent the people who lived in these lands for generations off packing.

Hun Xen bends over backward to accomodate Viet rubber company ... even in violation of Cambodia's Constitution

Cambodia and Vietnam cooperate in rubber growing

Friday ,Jun 10,2011
Saigon Giai Phong (Vietcong communist party)

The Cambodian Government will create the best favorable condition for the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) to plant rubber trees in Cambodia, stressed Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhayly.

The Deputy PM, who is also Chairman of the Cambodian Council for Agricultural and Rural Development, made the affirmation at the first day of his working sessions with the Dong Phu Rubber Joint Stock Company and the Phu Rieng Rubber Company on June 9.

He praised the VRG for having planted 60,000 ha of rubber trees in Cambodia.

Mr Nguyen Thanh Hai, General Director of Dong Phu Rubber Joint Stock Company reported to the Deputy PM that Dong Phu Rubber Joint Stock Company ha planted 11,000 ha of rubber in Vietnam, and the rural productivity reaches more than 2.2 ton per ha in 2010, and until now Dong Phu has invested in growing 5,000 ha rubber trees in Cambodia.

Land for sale: Even Bangladesh wants its share of Cambodia and Cambodians, you may be out of your land soon

Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni shakes hands with Cambodia's foreign minister Hor Namhong in Phnom Penh on Monday. (Photo by: Pha Lina)

Bangladesh wants rice and land concessions

Monday, 27 December 2010
Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

Bangladesh is seeking to purchase 200,000 tonnes of Cambodia’s rice and has requested economic land concessions, according to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

After the meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Dipu Moni on Monday, Hor Namhong told reporters the government of Bangladesh saw its food shortage problem as a first priority. Consequently, it has asked to purchase roughly 200,000 tonnes of rice as soon as possible.

In turn, Cambodia requested more investment from Bangladesh to process rice domestically.

“We have a rice surplus although Cambodia does not have the rice mills [to process it] so we want Bangladesh to invest in rice mills. Because we do not have the rice mills our farmers sell their rice to Vietnam and Thailand,” he said.

Thailand and Vietnam are the world’s two largest rice exporters.

Last week the Bangladesh Directorate General of Food released a tender on its website seeking to import 50,000 tonnes of white rice to help its domestic shortage. It gave bidders until January 3 to submit offers.

Hor Namhong said Bangladesh wanted to invest in growing rice in Cambodia for future exports back to Bangladesh, requested long-term land leases for up to 99 years, such as Cambodia had already granted to other countries.

The two countries would work towards an agreement to improve the bilateral trade and investment relationship which was now quite small, he said.

Dipu Moni’s two-day visit, which ends Tuesday, is the first state visit from Bangladesh since 2001.

She has also met Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Minister of Agriculture, Chan Sarun, for further discussions about agricultural projects.

Cambodia’s national rice policy includes an aim to reach 1 million tonnes of milled rice exports by 2015.

Hun Sen said recently that Cambodia’s rice yield this year would be the biggest since the Khmer Rouge regime, with farmers harvesting up to eight million tonnes of rice, of which 3.7 million tonnes has been earmarked as surplus for export.

Countries from the Gulf States such as Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have made similar requests to purchase farmland to grow food for sale in their domestic markets.

More disastrous land concessions by Hun Sen's regime

60,000 hectares of land ceded to private company for rubber

Saturday, 13 September 2008
Written by Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

LAND ON ITS HANDS
The government signed contracts with 90 private companies between 1992 and August 2007, ceding 1.178 million hectares of land in 16 provinces. Of these, 37 contracts have been cancelled, with 300,000 hectares reclaimed.

The PM has signed off on the deal for K Thom and Kratie, which is part of the government's vast 'economic land concession' scheme

PRIME Minister Hun Sen has conceded nearly 60,000 hectares of government-owned forests in Kampong Thom and Kratie provinces to a private business owner, according to a letter from July.

The letter, dated July 10 and signed by the prime minister, outlined the government's plan to transfer control of 58,658 hectares of forest to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for its Economic Land Concession program.

The identity of the private company expected to invest in the land has not been revealed, but Kampong Thom Governor Nam Tum said he has received a development proposal from the Thimas Resources Co, which hopes to invest in the land bordering Kratie province.

"We have not yet discussed details of the investment plan with the company," Nam Tum told the Post Thursday. "I'm not sure whether it is a local or foreign company, but they want to invest in rubber production."

Nam Tum said provincial authorities have more than 200,000 hectares of land reserved for concessions to private business owners. Some 66,000 hectares have already been offered to companies producing rubber, cashews and acacia trees, and employing more than 2,000 local residents.

Ny Chakrya, head of monitoring for the human rights group Adhoc, expressed concern that recipients of land concessions will try to steal additional land from local farmers.

People living near the development areas always suffer from such projects.

He said many residents have already tried to protest unlawful land seizures by companies but that local and military police have threatened or assaulted them on behalf of the companies.

Problems for residents

"Past experience shows that people living near the development areas always suffer from such projects," Ny Chakrya said. "Before concessions are given, the government should evaluate the impact on local residents and clearly demarcate the area given to the companies."

An agriculture ministry official, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said seven companies have received concessions in Kratie province, while four others have received concessions in Kampong Thom.

"Any company that does not follow the terms of their contract will lose their concession and the land will be reserved for social concessions [to benefit local residents]," the official said.