July 15th, 2010
Cambodia Economy
In the last decades, the telecommunication sector in Cambodia is growing remarkably and the Kingdom has yet to enact cyber law to prevent against the computer-based crime which is threatening Cambodia’s digital security connecting with the globe.
During a workshop at the Council of Ministers’ building in Phnom Penh, foreign and domestic experts also warned that Cambodia was not immune to malicious attempts to spread viruses and steal information.
In the last few years, several websites of government and private websites were hacked. By the way, Cambodia has no legislation specifically related to cyber crimes.
It is noticed that several ASEAN nations have already enacted specific laws on the issue. Even though, there is no specific law to tackle computer-based offenses in Cambodia, such crimes are to some extent recognized by Article 427 to 430 of the Crime Code covering information and computer technology.
July 14th, 2010
Cambodia Economy
MH Bio-Energy Cambodia, which is the Cambodia’s first biofuel plant located in Kandal province, is set to reopen in October after closing earlier this year because of the high crops prices. The plant started operating in Cambodia in November 2008 by investing initially US$30 million.
The plant was closed temporarily in April 2010 due to high domestic cassava prices and a low final selling price on European markets. At the least 10,000 tones of domestic cassava is needed per month to produce ethanol, a compound that can be blended with petrol to reduce carbon emissions.
The plant will restart the process of its production in October which is the period of the annual seasonal harvest of cassava comes. And it is expected that the tapioca price will be going down at that time.
In addition, dry-chip cassava currently costs US$210 per tonne, about 45 percent more than US%145 per tonne last year. The price of the biofuel on the European market is still low, about US$500 per tonne.
“The price of ethanol goes hand-in-hand with the price of oil, so when oil prices go down, bio-ethanol goes down. There was no room for us to increase the price of ethanol in the EU market; that’s why we decided to stop production,” Kim Jung-ho, MH Bio-Energy Cambodia director of administration was quoted by the Post.
July 12th, 2010
Cambodia Economy
Concerns over the management of oil and gas revenues by public and opposition parties, so far, there are 23 companies having been awarded rights to explore for oil and gas in Cambodia’s offshore but not all of them are operating.
By the way, the public expressed worried about the Cambodia’s management of its natural resources revenues that has come under increased scrutiny lately, with environmental and development groups warning its lacks the proper mechanisms to utilize an expected upsurge in revenue.
Son Chhay, Sam Rainsy Party Lawmaker, sent a letter dated on May 7, to Deputy Prime Minister Sok An requesting revealing information about which companies have been awarded the rights to prospect for oil and gas and about the management of revenues from those companies. He also requested revealing information about a US$28 million payment by French Oil Giant Total.
So far, French Oil Giant Total paid US$28 million to Cambodian government by stating that US$20 million was paid as a signing bonus, US$6 million put into a social-development fund and US$2 million was for the administration process.
All oil and gas revenues from payment by companies were paid into the account of the National Bank of Cambodia, which is administered by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA). No any payments will be directed to an individual, such as government official. Read more »
