Source: Phnom Penh Post

The iconic White Building in Phnom Penh is slated to be razed soon after the structure’s 493 families leave the crumbling structure. Hong Menea

The Ministry of Land Management yesterday announced that the decades-old White Buildingin the capital will be demolished starting July 17 in order to make way for a new 21-storey structure.

The announcement was released late yesterday evening and said the process of taking down the crumbling structure will cause some disturbances for those living close to the White Building.

“This demolition will lead to a disruption to the people living around the location as well as passers-by and will require carefulness and cooperation,” the short notification reads.

The dilapidated structure will make way for a 21-storey building that will be constructed by Japanese firm Arakawa Co, for an estimated cost of $70 million.

While five floors of the new building had been set aside for residents, most residents have chosen to take the $1,400-per-square-metre payout, with 468 of the 493 families having vacated the building as of yesterday. Ministry spokesman Seang Lot said it would take a few weeks to tear down the structure and that fewer than 10 families had yet to take the compensation, though he was confident they would before the July 17 deadline.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Public Works Minister Sun Chanthol (left) speaks to officials while inspecting National Road 2 on Sunday. Facebook

Workers have already started patching sections of National Road 2, which connects Phnom Penh to Takeo province but lies largely in a state of disrepair, an official said yesterday.

The news comes after Transport Minister Sun Chanthol told reporters on Sunday that he would seek the road’s temporary repair before a more extensive $64 million rebuilding project gets underway.

“We have already started on the worst parts, and officially have done 5 kilometres in Kandal province starting from May, and the remainder we are working on maintenance so people can use it before the Pchum Ben festival,” said

Kandal Provincial Public Works and Transport Department Director Moeng Youleng. Pchum Ben starts September 19.

“We do not know how much budget we will need for these temporary repairs, as we are now studying it.”

After a visit to a section of the road on Sunday, Chanthol told reporters that a South Korean firm had been contracted to completely rebuild the road – with the help of a $56 million concessional loan from the South Korean government – but he feared that the project could take too long. As such, he said he would seek extra government funds to patch the road before the main rebuilding project starts.

“I don’t expect this project to build the road could be done by 2018 – it could be the end of 2018 by the company – but because we have seen that the road conditions are too difficult, and because we see the difficulties of the people, we are now finding solutions,” Chanthol said after his visit.

The next national election is scheduled for July 22, 2018, and infrastructure has long been a major campaign point for the ruling CPP.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

The outside of Phnom Penh’s White Building. Hong Menea

The Land Management Ministry and Japanese firm Arakawa have started marking off vacated sections of the White Building and disconnecting its utilities, with a ministry official saying he was confident the fewer than 10 families who have so far refused to move will agree to compensation before demolition is set to begin next Monday.

With less than 30 families still in the building, officials from utilities service providers have already started disconnecting the water and electricity supply to the building ahead of the July 17 demolition to make way for a brand new 21-storey mixed-use building. Hue Chenda, deputy director for the Land Ministry’s Department of Housing, said all families will vacate by July 15 and a local firm hired by Arakawa will start tearing down the structure.

He maintained that the handful of families holding out were being ‘greedy’. The ministry has offered the structure’s 493 families $1,400 per square metre for their apartments. “We don’t have a rule to give them higher [offers] than the others. In short, they cannot continue to disagree and remain in the building,” he said.

The ministry put out a statement on Tuesday announcing the demolition, with Chenda saying that they would make sure the vendors surrounding the building were unaffected.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Phnom Penh municipal officials and Chinese Embassy representatives yesterday commemorated the handover of 98 Chinese buses and two cranes to the city yesterday at a ceremony on Koh Pich. “The buses will not only help improve public transport and reduce the traffic congestion and pollution in Phnom Penh, they will also strengthen the solidarity and good cooperation of the two nations,” said Phnom Penh Governor Khuong Sreng at the ceremony.

Sreng said the buses would meet increasing demand for public transportation in Phnom Penh, which currently operates 57 buses on three lines, serving between 1,600 and 1,700 people per day. Tan Qingsheng, the chargé d’affaires at the Chinese Embassy, said the donation includes 60 35-seat buses, 38 27-seat buses and two cranes.

Because of the new fleet, and another expected donation of 180 buses from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the city expects to have 10 operational bus lines by early 2018, Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Met Measpheakdey told The Post yesterday. “Those 100 buses will help to reduce the [number of] vehicles on the road and contribute to the decline of traffic congestion and accidents in Phnom Penh if people participate in this service,” he said.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Chey Men (left), Tith Pichey (centre) and Nuon Vannsuy are among five members of the Prey Lang Community Network who joined the Ministry of Environment this month as officials. Photo supplied

Five members of the outspoken Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) have left the group and joined the Ministry of Environment’s Preah Vihear branch, citing fears for their life that they hope will be quelled with government jobs.

The five members – Nuon Vannsuy, Tith Pichey, Chey Men, Uch Sann and Yann Phanna – were selected to work at

the province’s Department of Environment in June, as the department looks to boost its illegal logging monitoring in the Prey Lang protected forest.

“They have a high willingness to protect natural resources, especially in the Prey Lang area. And right now, they are working with us to patrol in the Prey Lang area to check the illegal logging,” said Ear Sokha, the department’s director.

Sokha added that the five had been selected because the department was running low on rangers and because of their extensive knowledge of the forests in Chey Sen district.

The PLCN has been patrolling the forest since 2001 to document cases of illegal logging and has received funding from the US State Department’s USAID.

Vannsuy said he would help the department strengthen its protection of the area’s natural resources and hoped that they would be shielded as local officials. The PLCN has been attacked in the past by illegal loggers, including an incident last year when a female ranger’s leg was hacked with an axe.

“However, now we are not afraid of these issues and we work harder to protect natural resources, especially in our Prey Lang area, because now we have a [metaphorical] bulletproof vest from the ministry.”

Source: Phnom Penh Post

An aerial view of the White Building, featuring graffiti that reads boding, the local nickname for the capital’s soon-to-be demolished housing complex. Facebook

Demolition crews are set to begin tearing down the Phnom Penh landmark known as the White Building today, after the Ministry of Land Management announced on Saturday that all families residing in the dilapidated structure had left the premises.

Ministry spokesman Seang Lot said the 492 families had accepted compensation packages, making room for the start of demolition by a local contractor hired by Japanese firm Arakawa.

While the ministry had originally said that there were 493 families residing in the building, Lot clarified that one apartment had been empty. He added that nearby residents and vendors were at no threat from the demolition, which would not involve the use of explosives but only excavators.

“The company is specialised and will ensure the safety of the people around and will work with the local authorities,” he said.

The structure will be replaced by a new 21-storey mixed use building that will be constructed for around $70 million.

The former home of many artists, and a source of inspiration for creatives, the White Building was the setting on Friday of a photo shoot by arts organisation Cambodia Living Arts.

Phloeun Prim, the group’s executive director, said they wanted to replicate a photo they had snapped in 2005 with the same group of artists on a stairwell to commemorate the last days of the structure.

“When we started having classes and training people in Phnom Penh, the White Building was our starting point,” he said.

See more:

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Vehicles parked along Sothearos Boulevard in Phnom Penh yesterday. The capital’s Traffic and Public Order Department is launching a crackdown on unlawfully parked cars along busy streets. Hong Menea

Police in Phnom Penh will next month start issuing fines of up to $25 for violations of parking regulations by using handheld devices that scan licence plates and recognise the registered identity and address of a vehicle’s owner, an official said yesterday.

Run Rothveasna, director of the Interior Ministry’s Traffic and Public Order Department, said that wrongdoers would face fines between 50,000 to 100,000 riel (about $12.50 to $25) depending on the vehicle, withdrawal of their driver’s licence or even court proceedings. “We are training traffic police officials about the use of technology via the sophisticated system,” Rothveasna said of the handheld devices. “They will also tow vehicles.”

Taxi driver Yan Bunthoeun, 46, said that he welcomed the move.

“Some traffic police officers seem to be afraid of the influence of business and vehicle owners, especially of the vehicles with RCAF and police plates. Instead [of fines], when they see the owners of the luxury cars violating traffic laws, they ask them for money,” Bunthoeun said.

Mun Ya, 38, a food vendor on Sothearos Boulevard, said she worried the crackdown on parking violations would extend to irregular street sellers, while cars from the wealthy continue to go without fines.

Rothveasna said that fines would double after 30 days if not paid, and triple after 60 days. After 90 days, a lawsuit would directly be sent to court.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Adhoc officials (from left) Lim Mony, Nay Vanda, Ny Sokha and Yi Soksan (grey hair, facing away) hold a press conference after their release on bail last month. Yon Sineat

The Permanent Mission of Cambodia to the United Nations warned the UN not to interfere in the Kingdom’s internal affairs after the body’s human rights arm issued a statement welcoming the release of the so-called “Adhoc 5”, according to a statement made public early this morning.

The Adhoc 5 – four current staffers of the rights group, and one former staffer-turned-election official– were released on bail on June 29 after spending more than a year in pre-trial detention in a “bribery” case relating to an opposition sex scandal.

The case is widely seen as political, and in a July 7 statement, UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell said the body welcomed the release, while also expressing concern about a lack of evidence and legal reasoning to justify charges against the five.

In response, the Cambodian mission said in its own statement that it would “take note with appreciation” of the OHCHR’s statement, but “urge[d] the United Nations agents not to prejudice the independent functioning of the judiciary in the application of rule of law; as doing so is tantamount to [an] act of contempt of court”.

Cambodia’s UN Ambassador Ney Samol called Throssell’s statement “an act of contempt” because it was not based on facts.

“Cambodia is not immune to criticism . . . That’s why we allow the OHCHR into the country,” he said. “[But it] is not proper in a legal process, in any country, that someone . . . prejudices or alleges that a court has no legal, or strong legal, background.

“So let the process go on and let the judiciary fulfil their independent task,” he said.

The Cambodian government has locked horns with the OHCHR’s local branch before. The Foreign Ministry had threatened to eject the body from the country if it did not amend its memorandum of understanding with the government to include pointed language regarding noninterference.

Asked about yesterday’s statement, Throssell in an email said the OHCHR had nothing to add to its previous remarks.

The release from the Cambodian mission goes on to argue that “civil societies & NGOs have quite frequently distorted facts, embarked on lie[s], and exacerbated or dramatized some remote cases in order to undermine the legitimacy of [the] state’s institution including the judiciary”.

But Cambodian Center for Human Rights Executive Director Chak Sopheap in an email dismissed the permanent mission’s argument. “States cannot hide behind the well-worn excuse of ‘domestic affairs’ to evade scrutiny of their actions, and state sovereignty is never a justification for violations of human rights,” she said.

Sopheap pointed out that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared in November that the detention of the Adhoc 5 was “arbitrary” and that the detainees’ human rights had been violated.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Homes in Stung Treng Srekor Village lay dismantled in anticipation of the flooding caused by the Lower Sesan Dam II. Eliah Lillis

About 105 children in Stung Treng’s Kbal Romea and Srekor villages no longer have access to education as their parents refuse to relocate in the face of potential flooding from the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam, community representatives say.

Five teachers, including two working on contract for the Ministry of Education, used to teach at the local primary school, according to Kbal Romea community representative Dam Samnang.

Three of the teachers moved to a new school at a relocation site along National Route 78, while the other two quit teaching when they stopped receiving salaries from the Ministry of Education, he added.

“They haven’t had teachers for more than a year,” Samnang said.

Likewise, most children remaining in nearby Srekor village – which also faces flooding – no longer go to school, said Fut Khoeun, a Srekor community representative.

“Kids, including my son, have not had teachers since March [because] teachers moved to the relocation site,” said Khoeun, who did not know the number of children still in the village.

According to Khoeun, a few students cross the Sesan River by boat each day to attend a school at their community’s relocation site, about four kilometres away.

Provincial Hall spokesman Men Kong confirmed teachers had moved to the relocation sites, adding that the children still in Kbal Romea and Srekor would have access to schools when their parents relocated.

Kong said he did not know about unpaid teachers’ wages in Kbal Romea. Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron referred questions to Heang Poly, director of Stung Treng’s Education Department, who could not be reached for comment.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

An official drives past a tyre that was set alight yesterday by residents of Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district who protested to express anger about being left in the dark about a new railway project. Pha Lina

Phnom Penh City Hall yesterday called a temporary halt to the construction of a commuter rail service connecting the central railway station to the airport after residents living along the small road upon which the tracks were being laid burned tyres to protest not being notified about the project.

Por Sen Chey district authorities had been told to hold a public forum with the community living along Street 105K – a thin road that runs toward Russian Boulevard – before allowing the construction to continue, according to municipal spokesman Met Measpheakdey.

Among the roughly 100 residents who protested yesterday was Nov Sopheap, a villager in Kakab commune. She said the residents were angry that Royal Railways had already begun installing a stretch of rail despite no one being notified about the project, or its potential impact on their properties.

“I am happy to see the development, but I want to see development that doesn’t affect the people living in the area,” Sopheap said, adding that officials should have met residents before allowing the project to reach the construction stage.

Lok Lun, the chief of the commune’s Ov Lek II village, said he only became aware of the project on Saturday when he received a letter from the company informing him of the work that had begun. He estimated 100 families could be impacted by the project, and said none had been notified.

“People keep asking me,” Lun said of the track laying over the past weeks. “I just responded that I do not know.”

Kakab Commune Chief Khoem Chanvanak speaks to the press yesterday about the community’s concerns over commuter rail service plans. Pha Lina

Royal Railways has a 30-year concession to operate Cambodia’s railway network, and it earlier this year completed its feasibility study into the airport rail link. It had begun laying the first stretch of rail leaving the airport six weeks ago, said John Guiry, the company’s chief executive officer.

About 260 metres of the total 1,250 metres of track that will run down the middle of Street 105K has already been installed, Guiry said. He also acknowledged that information about the project had not been communicated effectively to the local community before construction began.

“Unfortunately, it looks like some information wasn’t passed on from one to another,” Guiry said, explaining that he had personally met with local residents and business owners yesterday and assured them they had nothing to worry about.

The airport link could be up and running by April next year, with three trains running 24 hours a day, he said.

Taing Kosang Primary School Principal Chhay Sokha said the first she heard about the project was at yesterday’s protest.

She said she accepted the rail would be laid but asked for more transparency and for measures to ensure the school children do not face danger. “Why was this project not discussed with anyone?” Sokha said. “It was so secretive.”

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Condo supply in Phnom Penh is expected to hit 38,920 units by the end of 2019. Heng Chivoan

Despite condo supply in Phnom Penh increasing at a fast rate as projects complete construction, many in the real estate industry are maintaining an upbeat outlook on future market conditions. However experts have cautioned that moving forward, new projects will need to be more prudent and mindful in their plans to build condos, especially when it comes to location.

Tuy Bun, shareholder of Residence L Cambodia which is developing condominiums in Phnom Penh for the middle class said while the broader condo market looked to be struggling from a sales perspective, his project had been steadily selling off units with 70 percent of units having been sold.

“My project is still moving forward little by little. I focus on people within the middle income bracket, and I sell them at a reasonable price range of between $1,000 and $1,100 per square metre,” he said.

When asked what he thought the future held for the condo market in Phnom Penh, he said his feelings were mixed, noting that he was informed that a project within the same price range as Residence L Cambodia had been recently halted in the middle of its construction process.

Real estate firm CBRE Cambodia estimates that condominium supply in Phnom Penh alone currently stands at 4,253 units and will reach 38,920 units by the end of 2019, representing a 9 fold increase.

Thida Ann, deputy director of CBRE Cambodia, commented that the luxury condo market had tapered off slightly, however developers targeting people within the middle income bracket were performing better.

Despite Ann’s comments, investors in high-class condos in Phnom Penh are shaking off any concerns about supply and sales woes.

A case in point is Sear Rithy, chairman of WorldBridge Group, who has invested millions in partnership with a Singaporean firm to develop two luxury residential projects. He told Post Property he does not see any threats to the condo market.

However, he said that developers needed to be wise when choosing the location of their project as the right location could make a big difference in sales numbers.

“Condos that are facing an uncertain future are those constructed in unsuitable locations, as well as projects lacking investment capital,” he said,

He continued, “My condo is strongly focused on its location, quality, and a strong investment capital foundation; and I’m not just selling a house, I’m selling a lifestyle.”

Meanwhile, Touch Samnang, deputy director ofthe Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC), noted that those still interested in buying condos in Phnom Penh comprised of mainly foreigners from China, Japan and Taiwan. Samnang also believed that any residential projects, not just condos, were a hard sell if the location was unfavourable.

Noun Rithy, Khmer Foundation Appraisal’s CEO, maintains a bullish outlook when it comes to Cambodia’s condo market, believing the market was “teeming with potential”.

He continued, “I don’t think that there’s anything to worry about, seeing as the country has achieved political stability and prosperous economic development.”

“Cambodia still has potential and as the number of investors to Cambodia continues to increase, they will want to live in condos when they arrive.”

Based on Rithy’s calculations, condo units that are currently on the market at the price of $300 to $400 per month usually attract Cambodian customers while units ranging from $550 to $1500 a month are mostly occupied by foreigners.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

A mother navigates a flooded area with her child on Sunday after water levels rose due to heavy rains and the closing of several of the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam’s gates in Stung Treng province. Photo supplied

A meeting between representatives of two ethnic minority communities in Stung Treng that will be affected by the official start of operations at the Lower Sesan II dam was cancelled yesterday after provincial authorities placed too many conditions on the meeting, activists said.

Convened to allow some of the 200 residents of Kbal Romeas village and the already-flooded Srekor village to discuss their desires not to be relocated, the meeting was called off because only 10 representatives were to be let in instead of 35, said Mother Nature activist Thun Ratha.

Sun Youra, the development issues program director at NGO Forum, which had organised the meet, said provincial authorities had also said that any media attending would not be allowed to record the discussions that took place, leading the villagers to become suspicious.

“We do not want a secret meeting; without the wide presence of the journalists [the meeting] is useless,” Kbal Romeas community member Srang Lanh said.

Stung Treng Provincial Hall spokesman Men Kong denied that either of the conditions placed on the meeting had led to its cancellation, and said that NGO Forum had failed to coordinate with the two communities to ensure they would be present at the meeting.

Youra said he now did not know how the issue of the Srekor and Kbal Romeas holdouts would be resolved before the dam officially goes online.

“Unfortunately we could not reach an agreement,” he said. “If the parties cannot meet, we don’t know how to deal with the problem.”

Read more: Dam to bring power, pain

Meanwhile, after a two-week trial closure of eight of the Lower Sesan II dam’s 10 gates, the Hydropower Lower Sesan II Company reopened four of the gates yesterday.

The water levels at the dam itself now stand at around 69 metres, according to company representative Chhay Meng, who said the water levels would be reduced to 52 metres for the dam’s September 25 official inauguration, which will be presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

To avoid serious floods, Meng said, the dam company will now only keep three or four dam gates open at a time until the opening ceremony. A combination of the gates’ closure and heavy rains led to flooding in Srekor last week, with some parts of the village 1.5 metres under water.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

A photo appears to show sand dredging last month in Koh Kong. Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay has requested clarity on the dredging activity despite the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s ban in the area. Mother Nature

Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay yesterday submitted a letter to National Assembly President Heng Samrin to forward to Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem requesting more information on sand-dredging

operations and a sand-processing facility in Koh Kong province, following a recent ban on exports from the area.

While Chhay congratulated the ministry for permanently banning sand exports from Koh Kong, he said there are still a few loopholes in the new measures, such as a recently built sand-washing facility within the Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary.

“We want the ministry to explain when they are going to dismantle or get rid of those facilities to ensure that those operations don’t continue in this area,” Chhay said by phone yesterday.

Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long said he had not yet seen the letter, and didn’t know whether it would be signed by Samrin and sent on to Sem.

According to the letter, the ministry’s prakas and guidelines don’t include the Andoung Tuek River, and large-scale dredging is approved in two areas of the Koh Por River, with no limit on the number of operations.

Chhay added that he also wants the ministry to provide more details on the areas where sand dredging is allowed.

Chhay in the letter also requests information on the kind of mechanism the ministry will use to enforce the measures.

“Because within the last 10 years, billions of tonnes of sand and mud-sand were [extracted] and smuggled illegally from Koh Kong,” the letter reads.

Chhay is also still waiting to receive a response on his request for clarification on silica sand exports, which he submitted in mid-June.

“If they don’t officially respond to us, [the ministry] is not just violating the Constitution, but is raising concerns that the ministry has something to hide – that they’ve done something wrong,” he said.

Under the Constitution, a minister must provide a verbal or written response within seven days of receiving the questions.

The Mines Ministry said yesterday that some elements of the request fell outside of its purview and that it would seek advice on how to respond.

If Sem does not respond, Chhay said they can begin a process to impeach him, though he didn’t know “how cooperative” the ruling party members would be.

At least 30 members of parliament need to request impeachment in order to push the matter to a vote in the Assembly, which is controlled by the ruling party.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at a Royal University of Law and Economics graduation ceremony yesterday on Phnom Penh’s Diamond Island. Facebook

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called for the closure of a Christian anti-trafficking NGO during a heated tirade at a graduation ceremony, condemning them and CNN for broadcasting an “insulting” story about girls who were sold into sexual slavery by their own mothers.

But in the unpaved streets of the once notorious Svay Pak commune, where Agape International Missions (AIM) has been established since 2005, the community yesterday despaired at the thought of the charity’s closure.

AIM featured prominently in a recent CNN report, which revisited three girls who were reportedly sold into sex slavery by their impoverished family members. It was initially headlined The Cambodian girls sold for sex by their mothers, which sparked ire on social media because one of the victims spoke Vietnamese. The word “Cambodian” was later dropped from the headline.

“This is a serious insult,” Hun Sen said yesterday, commanding the interior and foreign ministries to investigate.

“In many countries, for only drawing cartoons their magazine must be shut down, but in our country, we are insulted [to the point of] saying that mothers sold children to become prostitutes.”

“We cannot accept this big insult, and we are going to close the NGO involved.”

An exterior view of the Agape Training Center in Phnom Penh’s Svay Pak commune. Hong Menea

On Monday a CNN spokesperson said the report had highlighted Cambodia’s progress in eradicating the trade, adding, “We stand by our reporting”.

Hun Sen, however, was unassuaged yesterday, hinting at the possibility of protests at the US Embassy – which he also asked to investigate the NGO – and appearing to draw a parallel between the CNN story and the devastating US bombing campaign of the 1970s. He then went on to side with US President Donald Trump, who has himself been highly critical of CNN.

“CNN of the United States deserves to be cursed by Donald Trump. It’s not wrong. [I] support President Donald Trump who cursed CNN,” he said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak would only say “the investigation is in progress now” before hanging up.

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs also weighed in, saying AIM had made a “major mistake” and manipulated the truth for their own financial gain.

“In our Cambodian culture, we don’t have a tradition to sell children, even though we are in a desperate situation,” the ministry said in a statement, which came on the same day police announced they were investigating a case of a woman who allegedly sold her baby daughter for $125 in Preah Vihear.

News of the premier’s calls for AIM’s closure, however, came as a blow to many residents in Svay Pak on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, where the NGO has established centres to train women to sew, educate children and offer medical care, as well as a boxing gym.

The poverty remains palpable in the fishing community, where many residents are ethnic Vietnamese, but it is no longer the infamous child prostitution destination it was the 1990s and early 2000s after brothels were shuttered in 2005.

Motodop Ya Saley, 65, said he was “very happy” with AIM, as his daughter had been given a sewing job after the NGO saw their poverty. “They help sex trafficking victims to get another skill. They even help the poor children to get an education,” he said.

As for the child trafficking and prostitution that once dominated the district, Saley said that had “completely closed down”.

An exterior view of Rahab House II, an education center run by AIM. Hong Menea

Ros Chantra, 31, said the NGO had helped see a reduction in robberies and drug trafficking. His wife, he said, also worked in sewing and had benefitted from their help since she was young.

“Because her mother is very poor, she brought her here . . . [Without AIM’s help] she may not have survived, because they could not even afford food.”

AIM founder Don Brewster said he was unable to comment yesterday, but two people who work with AIM, who asked to remain anonymous, said they would be filled with regret if AIM were to close.

“I would be afraid to lose this NGO. I would be very sad if I lost my job. This is very important for the community,” said one.

“For children who have a lack of warmth from their family, we teach them,” said another.

AIM has also conducted raids alongside local anti-trafficking police to free victims. The organisation claims to have rescued 600 people last year – including 100 children – and has received multiple government letters thanking them, one as recently as last week. But AIM’s legacy has been chequered. In 2014 a former AIM volunteer was convicted of raping children in his care.

US Embassy spokesman Arend Zwartjes said the US government was proud to contribute to Cambodia’s “impressive strides countering child sex trafficking”.

“However, challenges remain. We believe that committed NGOs, working closely with the Government and the international community, are a very important part of the solution,” he said in an email, declining to address Hun Sen’s calls for an embassy investigation.

World Vision’s Aimyleen Gabriel declined to comment on AIM’s case, but said that sex trafficking in Cambodia was “evolving”, and “remains a major issue needing more attention from all sectors of society”.

Chak Sopheap, of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, agreed, suggesting the government commit to solving the problem of sexual exploitation rather than dwelling on bad press, adding that no NGO should be shut down without a thorough investigation first.

“Human trafficking, including that of children for sexual exploitation, remains a concerning issue in Cambodia. It is therefore essential that the [Cambodian government] focuse[s] on eradicating such practices, rather than appearing to deny the gravity of the issue,” she said in an email.

Targeting an NGO for “simply for sharing its findings with the media” was “deeply troubling” and “a predictable result” of the much-maligned NGO Law, Sopheap said.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

People gather outside Siem Reap Provincial Hall yesterday to demand the opening of a road in Slakram commune allegedly fenced off by Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi. Chan Sopheap

About 200 people gathered in front of the Siem Reap Provincial Hall yesterday to demand that authorities intervene to remove a fence blocking a road on land allegedly owned by Women’s Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi in Siem Reap town’s Slakram commune.

Slakram resident Ouk Sakhorn, 50, who was among the protesters, said he had frequently used the road between 1990 and 2005. However, he claimed that Kantha Phavi fenced off the road and property in 2005 after buying a plot of land surrounding it.

“The blocked road is about 50 to 60 metres long and people living in two or three villages always used it, but now, those people have to detour by using another road, which is far away,” Sakhorn said, adding that the road’s closure had also caused a lot of congestion.

Since the road’s closure, Sakhorn said, villagers had repeatedly submitted petitions asking that authorities intervene to reopen the road but had been rebuffed. Yesterday’s protest, he said, was triggered by news the land would now be used to build a market.

However, Mondul Bey Village Chief Mai Sokol said neither the land nor the road were ever public property, even though people used it for faster access to schools, markets and a pagoda. The land had belonged to soldiers, he said, who sold it to new owners, who in turn constructed a fence surrounding the entire property.

Sokol said he himself used to use the road before 2005 but had started using a new one once the property was fenced off. “For the protest, I do not know what to tell the villagers, and will let the superiors solve this case; I just make the report for them,” he said.

Slakram Commune Chief Chhorn Kemkhorn said he heard about the protest but was unaware of the details of the dispute. “I was in the meeting for the whole morning, so I heard that there were people protesting over the road blockage and requested [the government] open the road,” Kemkhorn said.

Siem Reap Town Governor Su Platong said that he was unaware of any public roads being closed, but said he would investigate whether the fenced-off road was state property. “We will inspect directly in order to avoid the impact on the people, but in principle, the authorities have no idea about a closed road,” he said.

Neither Kantha Phavi nor the Women’s Affairs Ministry spokesman Phon Puthborey could be reached yesterday.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

A sand-washing facility stationed in the protected red-zone area of Koh Kong’s Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary, will be allowed to operate despite a ban on sand dredging in the area. Photo supplied

A Koh Kong environmental official yesterday said a company with a sand-washing facility in an area where the Ministry of Mines and Energy last month banned sand dredging would be allowed to keep and operate its facility.

The facility, located inside a wildlife sanctuary, had drawn the ire of activists and was part of the basis for a request by an opposition lawmaker for more information on dredging in the area – a request that was rejected yesterday.

Mom Phalla, director of the Environment Department, said the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s directive banned sand extraction for export, but the sand-washing facility would process sand for domestic use, and therefore could remain where it is.

Phalla claimed the company had a “licence”, though he would not say who issued it, and added that the company also had an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – an assertion disputed by the Environment Ministry.

“The sand-washing facility at Prek Tatai has a licence to [process] sand for domestic consumption,” he said. “Therefore, they can operate there. It does not severely affect [the area]. It is small, and they will use normal freshwater to wash it.”

Last month, the Ministry of Environment said it would review an EIA for SCTWN Development Co Ltd, which is behind the facility. However, Danh Serey, director of the ministry’s Environment Impact Assessment Department, said he had not received the EIA, and referred questions to officials in charge of protected areas.

Heng Nareth, director of environmental protection at the Ministry of Environment, claimed the ministry had not given permission for the facility to operate as they only review the EIA.

Pech Siyun, director of the Koh Kong Provincial Mines and Energy Department, declined to comment on the case. Yos Monirath, spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Energy, also declined to comment unless answers were submitted via letter.

Sos Nara, a member of the Koh Sralao community, said Chinese workers at the sand-washing facility told him the company spent a lot of money on it.

“If they don’t relocate it, we still worry because they can secretly [dredge] at night time,” he said. “The [sand] washing will affect our fishing.”

Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker Son Chhay on Monday submitted a letter to National Assembly President Heng Samrin to sign and forward to Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem.

The letter requested more information on sand dredging and the sand-washing facility, following the decision by the Ministry of Mines and Energy to permanently ban sand exports from Koh Kong. Samrin blocked the request.

National Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long said Chhay cited articles 69 and 96 of the Cambodian Constitution, which he insisted did not pertain to his request.

However, Article 96 states that members of the National Assembly have the right to raise questions to any government official. Article 69, meanwhile, cites the state’s responsibility to “preserve and promote national culture” and historical sites.

Furthermore, neither the constitution nor the Internal Regulation of the National Assembly give authority to the president of the National Assembly to deny such requests.

Peng Long went on to accuse Chhay of “interference in the government’s affairs, because the government is in charge of managing the directive”.

Chhay said that Samrin had “no right” to block his request to Sem.

“This is unusual and very strange,” he said, calling the action “serious”, as a “parliamentarian no longer has any role to monitor the executive branch”.

“Every institution has come under the hands of the government,” he said. “That’s concerning.”

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Nineteen nests of Cambodia’s critically endangered national bird, the giant ibis, have been discovered in Preah Vihear province, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced yesterday. Conservationists with the group said 14 nests were found in the Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary and five were found in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary.

‘We expect to find new nests of this species in both sanctuaries because its breeding period is between June and September,’ said Thong Sokha, the wildlife research and monitoring team leader for the WCS and the Ministry of Environment in Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary. ‘Our team is now working closely with local communities to monitor those recorded nests and search for new ones in both sanctuaries.

Experts estimate that there are just a few hundred giant ibises left in the world. About 99 percent of the global population of the bird is estimated to live in Cambodia.

The giant ibis has been threatened by hunting, egg collecting, wetland drainage and deforestation. WCS has been working with the Ministry of Environment to save the birds by incentivising locals to locate and protect nestlings, promoting awareness about the species and protecting nesting trees.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen who is seen speaking at an event earlier this week, will be visiting Japan next week. Facebook

Prime Minister Hun Sen will pay an official working visit to Japan next week at the invitation of the Japanese government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday.

It will be the ninth meeting between Hun Sen and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two premiers are expected to sign documents formalising two aid agreements – a roughly $35 million grant from Japan to implement the fourth phase of a JICA-sponsored flood-protection project in Phnom Penh, and a concessional loan from JICA of approximately $209 million to implement a container terminal project at the Sihanoukville port.

Japanese capital has been flooding into Cambodia, with Japanese investment in the Kingdom totalling $1.5 billion over the last 25 years, according to the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

The premier will also pay a courtesy call to Crown Prince Naruhito, visit with Japanese business groups and meet with Cambodian students studying in Japan.

The visit will coincide with the 25th anniversary of Japanese peacekeepers arriving in Cambodia in 1992.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

A few years ago it seemed something of a reach to imagine local investors buying high rise condominium apartments in Cambodia. Suburban, gated communities, often known as Boreis, or a place in the country seemed more appropriate to the tastes of many Cambodians. With Urbanland’s vision and a growing urbanised workforce has seen the developer’s residential and office developments scooping up awards.

2017 has been a pivotal year for Urbanland, from winning the Cambodian Property Awards best condominium development category in 2016, Embassy Residences is now complete with over 90% units sold.

Last month, under the care of international management company CBRE, the first wave of homeowners began taking up occupancy in Tonle Bassac’s most architecturally distinctive urban residence.

Founder and Managing Director of Urbanland Hok Kang explains Embassy Residences popularity with an infectious enthusiasm. “Growing urbanisation is a reality no Asian capital was going to avoid. But we wanted to approach it differently. We saw the possibility of vibrant city living at a soothing pace. We visualised homes where busy urban lifestyles would be counterpointed by a tranquil living space.

” Vision has been the signature of the Urbanland team. Taking experienced and talented designers, architects and marketing professionals and placing them under one roof allowed for a rapid exchange of ideas. It would be these ideas that resulted in Urbanland’s common vision of a template for developing spaces that harmonised with Cambodia’s traditional community dwelling.

“Whether we are working on the design of a workplace or a living space, we didn’t just want to emphasise luxury as have many of our competitors,” explains Hok.

Urbanland has also worked to foster a sense of community in Embassy Residences through appealing communal areas that afford stunning river and city views that stretch from Koh Pich and Independence Monument as far as Toul Tom Poung. Interiors too are designed to distract from the buzz of the city’s streets. Living spaces are appointed with the highest quality amenities and designers have taken an intuitively contemporary style and purposely crafted each apartment into a relaxing living space.

Locations have played a key part in Urbanland’s decision making. Phnom Penh, has exploded in popularity in recent years and this quiet section of Tonle Bassac, home to Phnom Penh’s flourishing embassy district, is the perfect residential neighborhood. Like so much of the city, its constant evolution now sees it little more than a stone’s throw from some of the city’s best boutiques and restaurants.

“It really has proved to be the perfect location for our first residential development,” says Hok.

This certainly rings true, when taking a look at Embassy Residences’ popularity. Sales have exceeded even the most optimistic predictions of the marketing team, with only a handful of final release apartments left available to buyers. Urbanland, with a little vision and a lot of passion, has led the way in creating a new dynamic, that goes beyond investing to become a beacon for quality living in the nation’s capital.

Source: Phnom Penh Post

Phnom Penh’s skyline is becoming cluttered with apartments and condos. Heng Chivoan

It is common for the terms apartment and condominium to be used interchangeably, but in the Cambodian context, these terms describe two different models of residential living.

The primary reason for the difference between apartments and condominiums tends to be in the ownership structure. A condominium will form part of a building sold on a unit by unit basis under strata-title whilst an apartment complex, or more fully a serviced apartment building, will be owned by a single owner, usually a property investment company.

Strata-title properties, being individually owned are either occupied by the purchaser or let out by investors. This can sometimes lead to competing agendas amongst the individual owners, and as a result, it is less likely that a consensus may be built amongst these individuals to organise themselves into a central body to allow a building to be let under a central leasing agent. Even when offered with guaranteed yields, these agreements may only last for a short period, usually between 3 and 6 years.

Whilst a guaranteed rental return structure may infer on the original developer or a managing body some level of control over the buildings leasing, an investor is unlikely to be inclined to spend significant sums on expensive fit-outs and intensive management during this period.

The ownership structure of condominiums means they will typically be let or owned on a unit-by-unit basis; this means that in the rental market neighbouring landlords may end up competing against each other to secure a tenant. In a building with ample supply of units, a more efficient market will arise. This should result in tenants being able to achieve a lower rent than may be possible otherwise.

Ownership of a building under a single guiding entity provides the certainty a serviced apartment operator would need to invest in the aspects of the building, which for a tenant, can set it apart from renting a condominium from an individual landlord, including facilities, interior design, additional security and more soft services.

The pricing of apartments and condominiums may also be different, with apartments more likely to be let on an inclusive rent with fewer add-ons, whilst a condominiums will sometimes allow tenants to pick and choose the services appropriate to their individual circumstance. The administrative burden and the impact of vacancy rates within a serviced apartment building will typically be greater than that of a condominium model, and as such, rents could be higher for a unit of comparable size and grade.

The provision of furnishings, as well as the décor, size and the quality of fittings will largely be reliant upon the grade of property selected, although serviced apartments often come more heavily provisioned, allowing the tenants to move in and out faster and with minimal fuss.

Serviced apartments, especially those under branded management or at the high end of the field, will be fully maintained by the building owner with the costs of this factored into the rent. Meanwhile, condominiums are more varied in their approach to maintenance depending upon the managing agent, the presence and policies of any owner or tenant’s committee and the service charge budget available for repairs to be undertaken. In addition, central maintenance in condominium developments will be targeted to communal and external areas, with individual’s owners picking up the bill for internal repairs. Conversely, whilst serviced apartments are maintained fully by the owner, the occupier will only very rarely be permitted to make any internal changes, no matter how minor they might be.

Another key difference between condominiums and serviced apartments is the access to services; in some circumstances condominium occupiers will be expected to pay extra to access facilities including swimming pools, gyms, saunas and car parking.

Meanwhile, a serviced apartment would come inclusive of the right to use at least some of the in-house facilities.

When considering renting an apartment it is important to fully understand the way the property is managed and operated to ensure there are as few surprises as possible further down the road. Apartments and condominiums offer distinct models of operation and it is down to the tenant to decide which model makes them feel most comfortable when committing to lease a new home.