Abduction of Chinese workers in Sudan stirs criticism of Beijing

Wednesday, February 1, 2012
By Andrew Higgins
Washington Post

HONG KONG — When China evacuated some 30,000 of its citizens from Libya early last year, official media fell into patriotic rapture. Television screens and newspaper front pages filled with pictures of flag-waving returnees. Xinhua, the state news agency, issued a commemorative DVD. The People’s Liberation Army Daily vowed that “no Chinese will ever be left behind.”

A year later, patriotic pride has turned to anger amid growing frustration over the fate of 29 Chinese nationals abducted by rebels in Sudan on Saturday. The Chinese, employees of a huge state-controlled engineering and construction company, Sinohydro, are being held by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, a ragtag militant outfit.

The drama in Sudan’s remote, oil-rich South Kordofan region — the latest in a string of attacks on Chinese working overseas — poses a delicate problem for the ruling Communist Party: how to manage the growing nationalism that it has itself done so much to promote. Party propaganda, pride at China’s recent achievements and a deep sense of grievance over China’s mistreatment at the hands of foreigners in the past have combined to stir demands for robust action.

Sinohydro, the Chinese builder of Kamchay Dam, plans to raise $2.3 bln in Shanghai IPO

China's Sinohydro aims to raise $2.3 bln in Shanghai IPO

SHANGHAI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Sinohydro Group, China's largest builder of dams, aims to raise as much as 14.4 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) in mainland China, lowering its initial fundraising target amid weak market sentiment.

It will be the largest mainland IPO so far this year, which has been dominated by much smaller deals. The state builder said on Sunday it will sell 3 billion yuan-denominated shares, compared with up to 3.5 billion shares planned initially.

The builder of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, has set a price range of 4.50-4.80 yuan a share for the issue, Sinohydro said in the statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The price range, which translates to 15-16 times 2010 earnings, was in line with expectations.

Hun Sen praises China for building hydropower plants in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen praised China on Monday for building hydropower plants in his country.

Making speech during his visit to a 193-megawatt hydropower plant project being built in Kampot province, Hun Sen said "China is building batteries for Cambodia."

Hun Sen said China is well-known in building hydropower not only in China, but also in some African countries and in Cambodia in particular.

The already half-way completion of 193-megawatt hydropower plant being built in Kampot province, 150 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh--is invested by Sinohydro Corporation from China.

Sinohydro Corporation is building five hydropower plants in the area and once they are to be completed in 2011, they will generate193 megawatts of power.

The power will not only be used in Kampot province, but also to be supplied to Phnom Penh residents.

Besides the above project, at least four more hydropower plants in two provinces of Pursat and Koh Kong will be built by Chinese companies.

So far, two hydropower plants located in Kirirom mountain area, about 120 kilometers west of Phnom Penh --also built by a Chinese company are already put for operation and are producing 30 megawatts.

Hun Sen also said Monday that while Cambodia is still short of power supplies, the government has been spending about 20 million U.S. dollars per year as a subsidy to keep the price of electricity stable despite the higher price of the oil in global markets.

Police seek Chinese dam workers after attack on [Cambodian] traffic police

Wed, 14 Oct 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Police in the southern Cambodian province of Kampot plan to arrest "more than 10" Chinese dam workers accused of attacking two traffic policemen who had to be hospitalized, local media reported Wednesday. The incident took place Sunday after the traffic police pulled over a truck that was carrying the workers. Kampot's police chief, Phlang Phearin, said the Chinese workers then phoned their colleagues who turned up and attacked the police.

Both policemen ended up in hospital, one of them suffering head injuries, Phlang Phearin told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

"We have identified the suspects and will arrest them soon after we have the documents," he said.

Phlang Phearin told the newspaper that a representative of the company the suspects work for, Sinohydro, had tried to negotiate with the police but would not make any further comment.

Sinohydro is building a hydropower plant in Kampot.

Shu Jiang, the deputy managing director of Sinohydro, confirmed that his workers had been involved in the incident.

"My workers attacked the policemen, but there was some reason, I think," he told the newspaper.

Cambodia: Chinese hydro concessions generate controversy [-The damned Chinese dams with Hun Sen's blessing]

1.30.09
Grainne Ryder, Policy Director, Probe International
EnergyPulse

In a desperate bid to attract investment in Cambodia's failing power sector, the government is offering guaranteed power revenues to Chinese companies willing to finance and build large hydro dams, and sell their entire output to the financially-strapped state utility, Electricite du Cambodge (EdC). First in line for the new guarantee was Sinohydro, the company that helped build China's Three Gorges dam and is now building dams across Africa, backed by China's state development banks. The Cambodian government approved its guarantee earlier this year, insuring payment to Sinohydro for electricity produced over its 44-year concession to build and operate the 193-MW Kamchay dam.

Then came the Chinese-owned Michelle Corporation. In October, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen advised the National Assembly to ratify 'a guarantee of payment' for electricity produced over Michelle's 30-year concession, Cambodia Daily reported. In return, the company has agreed to finance, build and operate two large hydro dams with a total installed capacity of 338 MW.

In all, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines has identified 14 potential hydro dam sites for development by 2018.

Prime Minister Hun Sen claims the government guarantees are necessary to "make [hydro] investors feel at ease." He also said "the government must aggressively pursue hydropower as a mechanism for growth" given the high cost of diesel and the country's rising demand for electricity.

But the strategy is controversial.

No one disputes the country's need for cheaper electricity. About 95 percent of the country's power is supplied by diesel generators which can cost 30 to 60 US cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the price of imported (or smuggled) diesel.

Kamchay and Michelle's two dams will more than double the country's generating capacity but at what cost to government and consumers nobody knows for certain. Some government officials insist prices will come down once Kamchay comes online in 2010. Others say there's no guarantee.

Ho Vann, one opposition politician who reviewed the Kamchay contracts, told the Phnom Penh Post last year the arrangement "is very weird because the profit goes to the company [while] the government pays [in the event of] accidents or natural damages caused by the dam."

EdC will pay Sinohydro eight US cents per kilowatt-hour for its output but the delivered cost to consumers may be more than double that once the cost of long distance transmission lines and backup power during the dry season are factored in. (The dams can only run at full capacity during the rainy season).

As for the dams' environmental liabilities, the guarantees shift responsibility onto the government, which represents a huge cost saving for the Chinese developers, effectively inflating their profits. Local residents, on the other hand, have been offered nothing in the way of guaranteed compensation in the event of a dam collapse or damage to their crops, fisheries, and water supplies. In a recent statement distributed by the Rivers Coalition of Cambodia, villagers threatened by large dams have demanded compensation but they also want electricity and other benefit-sharing arrangements, if the decision to build dams on their rivers is non-negotiable.

Scale is another issue. Ngy San of the Phnom Penh-based NGO Forum on Cambodia doubts the country's electricity demand warrants such large-scale additions of generating capacity. In most provinces, the daily electricity demand is only a couple of megawatts. Even in Phnom Penh, the current power deficit is only about 40 megawatts. This suggests that EdC could have difficulty finding enough customers for the dams' massive output, at least in the short-term.

Because EdC's service has been so unreliable over the last decade, most of the country's largest power consumers, especially hotels, have installed their own generators. The bulk of the country's power is supplied by private businesses, not EdC. In rural areas, where the vast majority of Cambodians live, hundreds of small enterprises supply power to villages using mostly second or third hand diesel generators and battery-charging stations.

According to the country's electricity regulatory authority, which is responsible for licensing private power providers, many are upgrading their distribution service to improve efficiency and lower their customers' costs. These entrepreneurs represent Cambodia's best hope for building a clean and efficient, decentralized power system – one capable of delivering appropriately-scaled power where needed and stimulating economic development. Sadly, they will probably get squelched by EdC and its backward-looking financiers, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Because of the risk that EdC could terminate their licenses and takeover their service territories at any moment, rural electricity enterprises and their urban counterparts have little incentive to invest in more cost effective and cleaner generation technologies (i.e., high efficiency micro turbines, biomass gasifiers, micro hydro and solar PV systems). The risk they could lose their investment is just too high. Sadly, that means Cambodian power consumers are losing out on the growing array of superior alternatives to diesel generators and big hydro dams.

The controversy over Chinese hydro concessions may be just beginning.

Russian company builds bridge for Cambodian island resort

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Koh Puos Cambodia Investment Group, a branch of Vironia Enterprises Limited from Russia, has invested 20 million euro (about 31.5 million U.S. dollars) to build a 900-meter bridge from the beach of Sihanoukville to Koh Puos (Snake) Island Resort, officials said here on Saturday.

This concrete bridge is one of the main development projects of Koh Puos Island Resort of the Sihanoukville city, Sun Chanthol, Cambodian Minister of Public Works and Transportation, said at the bridge groundbreaking ceremony.

The construction of the bridge will be finished by construction contractor Sinohydro of China in late 2010, he said.

The bridge will be built 32 meters over the sea level which could allow the container cargo ships to transport in and out of the sea port, he said, adding that the bridge will play a key role in connecting with other islands.

The developers have invested 300 million euro (about 472.7 million U.S. dollars) in the Koh Puos (Snake) Island to develop it into an international standard resort with hotels, trade center, accommodation and tourism center, he added.

The development of Koh Puos Island will contribute to economic growth and provide job opportunities for local people, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said at ceremony.

"We also welcome more investors from Russia and other countries to develop our islands in the sea for economic development," he added.

It's not enough that China gave Cambodia the KR headache, now come the Chinese dams concerns also

Chinese Dam Projects Worry Environmentalists

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 January 2008

At least two large Chinese companies have received investment licenses to take over hydroelectric projects in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Chinese companies are studying four other projects, officials said recently. But the dams seriously threaten the environment, according to two groups that released a report Monday.

Cambodia fuel prices are higher than its neighbors in the region. Only 20 percent of the people living in downtown areas have enough electricity. The Cambodian government has said there is a clear need to lower electricity costs.

And the plan has encouraged private sector to produce and share electricity. But the investment in Cambodian hydroelectricity is threatening the ecological system and could affect thousands of Cambodian people, International Rivers and the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia said in a report, issued Monday.

The report says five Chinese hydroelectric companies, including Sinohydro Corporation and Yunan Corporation for International Techno-Economic Corporation, received government licenses to invest more than $500 million.

Three other companies had an agreement with the government to study four projects.

The report says the Kamchay hydroelectric project in Bokor National Forest, Kampot province, invested by Sinohydro, flooded 2000 hectares of forest.

Stung Chhay Areng, in the central Cadramom Mountains, could flood nine villages, affecting about 1,500 people, most of whom are ethnic minorities.

The project could flood the habitat of at least 31 animal species that are almost extinct. Meanwhile, a Sambo hydroelectric project in the Mekong basin would block the habitat and migration routes of fish species.

Ngy San is vice president of the NGO Forum of Cambodia and a member of Rivers Coalition in Cambodia.

He urged the government to initiate a clear national program and said the government had not studied the consequences of the project licenses.

“The report says those investments are mostly or totally made based on politics, which means the leaders of the two countries meet with each other,” he said. “They decided with the facilitation of the engineers. So, we request that the government should come up with a national program on the investment of local hydroelectric development.”

Several government environmental officials declined to comment on the report.

Ith Prang, secretary of state of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said an impact study is conducted on every hydroelectric project, though some studies have not been concluded.

“We could not evaluate unless we have studied the environment around,” Ith Prang said. Officials in charge of commerce in the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh refused to be interviewed to clarify the rivers report.

Kim Sovann, a spokesman for Sinohydro, said he had not seen the report of the above organizations. But he confirmed several studies were undertaken before his company received a license to invest.

“My company and the Ministry of Environment sent our staff to the site several times,” Kim Sovann said.

Ngy San said the investment could mean a surplus in Cambodian electric power in a couple of years, which would have environmental consequences and bring uncertainty in the sale of power to other countries.

But Ith Prang said the electric power production increase would be done yearly, according to actual need.