KOH Kong province’s controversial sand export trade appears to have drawn to a halt, though local companies are attempting to restore contacts with Singaporean sand contractors, officials said.

Pech Siyon, director of the provincial Department of Industry, Mines and Energy, said yesterday that the last licenced dredging company in Koh Kong – local firm Udom Seima Trading – had wound up its sand export operations over the past few weeks. The company is currently in the process of shipping a 1,000-cubic-metre sample of sand to Singapore, he said, and is awaiting word from a potential client there.

“There were two shipments today and yesterday and there will be one last shipment,” he said. “We don’t know when they will answer. There is no market now, so there is no dredging activity.” He said he did not know the Singaporean company’s name.

In May, anti-graft watchdog Global Witness reported that up to 796,000 tonnes of sand was being removed from Koh Kong each month and sent to Singapore, where it is used in construction and reclamation projects. It argued that the trade had destroyed livelihoods and threatened marine ecosystems.

At the time, Pech Siyon said that only Udom Seima was still operating, and that a joint venture by the local LYP Group and the Hong Kong-based firm Winton Enterprises – one of the main operations mentioned in the report – had been suspended pending the renewal of its licence.

A representative of Udom Seima, who did not give his name, said the company was suspending its export operations for a year because its Singaporean export quotas had “expired”.

“We are waiting for Singapore to open a new quota for export,” he said. “They have just said the quota will open this month and then that month, but so far no one has contacted us.”

Global Witness campaigner Eleanor Nichol said her organisation was not aware of any official change of policy in either country, but that any news of an export suspension was to be applauded.

“If sand exports from Koh Kong to Singapore have really been suspended, then this is great news for both the local environment and local fishermen,” she said. “We hope this suspension signifies that the Singapore government is taking the concerns raised by us … and by others, seriously.”

Source

Visit The Phnom Penh Post

The head of United Khmer Group yesterday declined to disclose the names of “public” investors in a titanium mine he has said contains US$35 billion to $135 billion worth of deposits and refused to confirm the sums they had invested.

On Monday Chea Chet said public traders with more than 42 years of experience would provide the expertise to process ilmenite, an iron-titanium oxide used to produce titanium slag, at a 20,400 hectare site in Koh Kong province and ensure environmental protection procedures were implemented to safeguard the surrounding forests.

“These people, they are public traders. They come from offshore, they invest a lot of money and they already have a plan,” he said.

“So no matter what [opponents of the mine] try to do, it’s not going to stop our company or our government because we’ve prepared for the benefit and we prepare for the [environmental] effects.”

Yesterday Chea Chet also rebutted recent claims by officials and conservationists that his company had yet to commence exploration of the site, saying they had already started drilling but declined to produce a copy of the feasibility study.

“We’ve taken only 10 metres – it requires special tools like the other forms of mining; this one is only the surface, zero metres to 10 metres deep, so it is not that difficult,” he said yesterday, though he declined to confirm the precise location of the site.

But the conservation organisation Wildlife Alliance has provided a map which purportedly shows that the location of the concession precisely matches the coordinates of an earlier mining concession, one explored by the company Omsaura.

Omsaura’s feasibility study, conducted in June 2005, concluded that significantly lower amounts of ilmenite were likely to be found than United Khmer Group have claimed – just under 2.5 million as opposed to Chea Chet’s figure of 120 million tonnes.

Sowanna Gauntlett, country director of Wildlife Alliance, said yesterday that since 2002, eight companies had come to make studies of the site, but that none had commenced exploitation of the site. Gauntlett called for United Khmer Group to publish its findings.

“Right now, we finally discovered this is only an exploration permit.

“There are no findings yet, and if the company does have findings, then why don’t they publish it,” she said.

“And if they have big plans for that area, we need to be informed because we have big projects in eco-tourism and REDD sinks.”

Reduced Emissions From Deforestation permits allow heavily polluting companies in developed countries to offset atmospheric carbon emissions by paying for the protection of forests, which process the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen.

Gauntlett has previously said that the 144,000-hectare area of protected forest, worth between US$48 and $85 million, according to preliminary studies, would be doomed by the construction of a nearby mine.

Chea Chet’s estimation of the value of the deposits, which he puts at between $700 and $2,500 per tonne once processed into titanium slag, does not factor in capital expenditure required to process ore.

The highest price for titanium slag in China last month was US$670 per tonne.

Source

Visit The Phnom Penh Post

MINISTER of Tourism Thong Kong told investors developing the islands off Sihanoukville to proceed with construction or forfeit their permits.

Speaking at a ministry workshop in Phnom Penh yesterday, he said: “We will request the government to cancel licences if we find that any of these important islands are left undeveloped.”

The minister, who did not call out any particular companies during his speech, said the islands held great potential as a tourism attraction and could assist in developing the Kingdom’s economy.

“If development on the islands can be carried out, I think it will attract many foreign tourists to come, and to stay longer,” Thong Khon said.

Statistics from the Council for the Development of Cambodia showed that approximately 20 island development schemes have been approved, but that plans are presently being implemented by only four developers. Some of the remaining 16 projects are being studied, and some have been left undeveloped.

CDC deputy secretary general Duy Thov said development could be a long process for investors.

“We support the desire to develop the coastal islands, but we do not expect real development activities soon, as there are many steps for developers before construction can begin,” he said.

Snake Island, Rong Island, Aun Island, and Bong Island were under development, and other islands granted approval were awaiting the start of construction.

Meanwhile, Daek Koul Island, located on the coast of Preah Sihanouk province, is finished and beginning to receive visitors, according to Duy Thov.

An official from Sea Snake Investment Group, which developed Daek Koul Island, said companies generally required about four years to plan and construct developments offshore.

“We cannot build on an island in a shorter time than this because, unlike places in the mainland, islands lack infrastructure connections,” Sea Snake Investment representative Saut Dy said.

Daek Koul Island was redeveloped in 2008 with the construction of a 12-room hotel, a restaurant, swimming pool, and fishing facilities. It receives between 10 and 15 tourists daily during high season.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom has continued to proffer development rights to its offshore islands.

Private developers received rights to four islands in Koh Kong province, including Torteung Island, Chhann Island, Puthsar Island, and Samith Island in July.

[Apols for full quote]

Source

Visit The Phnom Penh Post

KOH KONG, 15 July 2010 (IRIN) – Fish are the primary source of income for residents of this sleepy, rustic border town in southwestern Cambodia, but when the area’s sand dredging vessels prowl the waters to plough up the riverbed, the fish all but disappear.

“When they were dredging a lot, we stopped bothering to even go out since it was not possible to catch anything,” Dol Sareem, a 60-year-old fisherman, told IRIN. “In those months, we caught half as much fish.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen banned sand exports in May 2009, yet sand mining continues in Koh Kong Province – the epicentre of the country’s corrupt dredging industry – enriching local elites and leaving fishermen to suffer, said international watchdog Global Witness.

There has been a lull in the sand operations since April, but local fishermen including Dol Sareem, who lives in Koh Kong’s main fishing community of dilapidated wooden homes with corrugated tin roofs, became so distressed by the impact of sand dredging that they joined several hundred people to protest in front of the provincial government office last December.

“It has improved since they have not been dredging these last few months but it’s still not like before,” he said.

Fishermen operating along the nearby River Kampot were less restrained in expressing their frustration. In February, they destroyed dredging equipment which they believed was responsible for the collapse of a riverbank.

Read article…

Visit IRIN News

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, according to reports earlier this year. “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,” said partner Richard Nelson in a statement last week.

Read article…

Visit The Phnom Penh Post

HUNDREDS of villagers and local officials have thumbprinted a petition protesting against a planned titanium mine in Koh Kong province, and plan to pass the document on to Prime Minister Hun Sen through local officials on Monday.

The petition, which has been signed by the chief of Chi Phat commune, four village chiefs and about 500 villagers, will today be handed to the Forestry Administration’s chief coastal inspector, Vann Sophanna, who has also voiced opposition to the project.

Penned by conservation group Wildlife Alliance, the petition argues that the mine – expected to extract a million tonnes of titanium ore – will drive away ecotourism revenue and ruin the area’s biodiversity through water pollution and deforestation.

“All mining is done with water, and this will basically poison the waterways and ruin the fish population, and of course it will poison the people, animals and kill ecotourism,” Suwanna Gauntlett, the country director of Wildlife Alliance, said yesterday.

At a community meeting and inspection of the site earlier this week, Vann Sophanna said he personally opposed the mine because its planned location overlapped with 144,000 hectares of protected forest and would impact local ecotourism projects.

“We need to keep this forest cover green, so we will report the worst negative impacts and explain them to the inter-ministerial committee so they can balance the interests of preserving natural resources and the benefits of the mining exploitation,” he said.

He added that the final decision rested with the prime minister, who he hoped would support the concerns expressed in the petition.

Neither the developer of the mine, United Khmer Group, nor relevant government ministries could be reached for comment yesterday.

According to Wildlife Alliance, United Khmer communicated on June 10 that it company would construct a quarry of between 20 and 200 metres in depth over a 15,000-to-20,000 hectare area to extract high-grade titanium.

If successful, the company said, Chinese companies would then construct another three or four mines covering an area of about 100,000 hectares in Koh Kong in addition to the first mine.

Consensus Economics, a macroeconomic survey firm, forecast in late 2009 that in June of this year titanium ilmenite ore would be worth US$95 per metric tonne, meaning the mine could contain deposits worth around $95 million.

But Vann Sophanna said the mine would also doom a potentially valuable carbon sink established under the UN and World Bank-backed Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) scheme.

A preliminary survey by Wildlife Alliance and the Forestry Administration estimated such a scheme could be worth between $1.8 and 2.8 million per year in revenue to the government.

Under the REDD scheme, polluting companies in developed countries would pay the Cambodian government to protect 200,000 hectares of forest in Koh Kong to offset their own carbon emissions, with 40 percent of the revenue going back to the local community.

The mine area also intersects one of only seven remaining elephant corridors in Asia and is listed by Conservation International as one of 34 global biodiversity “hot spots”.

[Ed-Apols for full quote]

Source

Visit The Phnom Penh Post

Provincial honey collectors sign sales contract

HONEY collectors from four provinces signed an agreement with the Cambodian Centre for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) Tuesday in order to bring more to market.

CEDAC president Yang Saing Koma told the Post that under the agreement bee-hunting communities would supply 4,000 litres of pure forest honey per year for sale in 10 shops across Phnom Penh.

“We hope that, through this agreement, CEDAC and forest honey hunter communities will benefit from both increasing their income and preserving natural resources for each community,” Yang Saing Koma said.

Pich Phony, president of the Cambodian Honey Hunter Community, which represents about 300 members in Mondulkiri, Koh Kong, Kratie and Preah Vihear provinces, said honey would be sold to CEDAC for US$9.70 per litre.

He added that the honey hunter communities in the four provinces are able to collect from 5,000 to 8,000 litres of honey in total per year at present.

According to MSME Bee Project, only 10 percent of the 500,000 litres of honey demanded domestically each year is currently supplied by Cambodia’s collectors.

It is hoped the deal will also help strengthen community conservation of hives and natural forest resources.

“Previously, we collected honey by cutting tree branches and then taking the whole nest, but we no longer do so now. We collect only the honey, and we leave the nest and young bees there so that they will produce honey again,” Pich Phony said.

CEDAC hopes to buy honey from collectors in three more provinces if the scheme goes well.

[Ed-Apols for full quote]

Source

Visit The Phnom Penh Post

Shipment of 10,000 tonnes is on its way to the UK – the first in four decades

ambodia shipped its first export of raw sugar to an overseas market in four decades on Friday last week, with the 10,000 tonne cargo destined for the United Kingdom.

Koh Kong Sugar Industry, which opened its factory for operation in January, said that the shipment left last Friday from Laem Chabang port in Thailand’s Chonbori province.

“We made our first shipment last week since the plant officially opened for operation in January,” Korn Posayanond, research and business development manager at Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Public Co Ltd – the factory’s 50 percent shareholder – told the Post on Wednesday.

He declined to disclose how much the shipment was worth, saying it was confidential.

The Post estimates 10,000 tonnes of raw sugar would yield about US$3.31 million, based on Wednesday’s prices on the Bloomberg agriculture index, which said one pound of raw sugar was valued at $0.15.

Korn Posayanond said crushing operations for next year’s exports would begin in November, and that the factory has already planted and expected to harvest between 200,000 and 250,000 tonnes of sugarcane for this year’s harvest. But he said there are concerns as to whether this level is sustainable.

Read article…

Visit The Phnom Penh Post

Ships have reportedly bolstered operations in area, and there are also concerns on the Mekong

SAND-DREDGERS have resumed large-scale operations in Koh Kong province’s salt-water estuaries since June 2 after a drop-off in dredging activities as a result of a sand-export ban last year, local fishermen said Tuesday.

Matt Sen, a 47-year-old fisherman from Village 4 in Smach Meanchey district’s Dong Tung commune, said Tuesday that about 10 transport ships are now waiting in the ocean to transport sand offshore.

He added that fishermen were using around 8 litres of gasoline per day in order to access deepwater areas where the fish are still plentiful, and blamed the dredgers for fish declines in shallow areas.

“I don’t know about the environmental impact. I only know that when there are sand-dredging companies in the sea there are no fish,” he said.

Last month, London-based watchdog Global Witness released a report on Cambodia’s sand trade that said that up to 796,000 tonnes of sand was being removed from Koh Kong each month.

The group estimates that the annual value of these shipments is US$28.7 million in Cambodia and $248 million once the sand reaches Singapore, and that the trade is being conducted with little regard for international standards or local laws.

Read article…

Visit The Phnom Penh Post

The Green Rich company has announced that it will invest US$9 million in Koh Kong province to grow acacia trees for export to China and Indonesia for the production of paper.

The company, which will eventually operate on 10,000 hectares of land in the province’s Koh Kong district, intends to plant more than 2.8 million trees, said Pich Ratana, Green Rich’s public relations manager.

“We hope [to] fulfill the market demand for paper,” he said Thursday, and added that the company expects to begin exporting wood in 2014.

Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries lauded the plan as a means to create jobs and increase national revenue. “The government supports the business of growing this kind of tree because it helps sustain the environment,” said Kith Seng, an undersecretary of state at the ministry.

Although the government supports its project, Green Rich’s dealings in Cambodia have not been without controversy.

In 2005, the legality of Green Rich’s operations in Cambodia was questioned by environmental NGOs that said the company was violating its contract with the government and had failed to assess the environmental impact of establishing an acacia plantation.

Labour conditions under Green Rich were also sharply criticised in a report, “The death of the forests: A report on Wuzhishan’s and Green Rich’s tree plantation activities in Cambodia”, by the group World Rainforest Movement.

Pich Ratana said Thursday, however, that Green Rich’s investment complied with government regulations and is in line with the Agriculture Ministry’s replanting scheme.

[Ed-Apols for full quote]

Source

Visit The Phnom Penh Post