Seven Companies Receive Economic Concession Land from the Government

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 663

“Phnom Penh: Seven local and foreign companies received economic concession land from the Royal Government of Cambodia to grow agro-industrial crops and trees. The agreement to provide concision land was made on 5 May 2010 at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and was chaired by Minister Chan Sarun.

“In front of the participants and leaders of the companies that got concession land, the Minister of Agriculture expressed appreciation for those companies as they are trusted by the Royal Government. And he suggested to those companies to invest more, to promote a proper and sustainable ago-industrial sector, based on plans that include the exchange of techniques, the creation of jobs, and the increase of income and of health services, roads, and agricultural markets. He asked those companies to care about protecting the environment in order to avoid, and to reduce, as much as possible bad impacts on the environment because of their investment operations, to promote the plantation of trees, especially rubber trees, and the manufacturing for export, based on a proper sharing of benefits between the investors and the state.

“The seven companies that received economic concession land:

1. PLT Company, 7,900 hectares in Rovieng district, Preah Vihear, for planting rubber trees
2. CRCK Rubber Development company, 6,044 hectares in Sandan district, Kompong Thom, for planting rubber trees
3. Hua Ling company, 7,773 hectares in O’ Reang Euv district and Monorum district in Mondolkiri, to plant Srol trees [a type of pine trees; its rosin is of better quality than that of rubber trees]
4. CCV company, 5,730 hectares in Santuk district, Kompong Thom, for planting acacia
5. IPD Instance Pro-Trading, 987 hectares in Sambou district, Kratie, for planting rubber trees
6. Camtri Corporation, 2,409 hectares in Chhouk district, Kampot, for planting acacia trees
7. Krongbuk-Ratanakiri Rubber Development Company, 6,695 hectares in Andong Meas district, Ratanakiri, for planting rubber trees.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.18, #5192, 8.5.2010

Note:

The article contains:

• No information which company is national, and which is foreign
• No information about the bidding process through which these companies “received economic concession land from the government”
• There is no information presented about any financial conditions that had to be met to receive these contracts
• There is no information given about the number of years covered by the various contracts
• The minister asked those companies to care about protecting the environment, but there is no information given whether and what kind of measurable data for the protection of the environment are part of the concession contracts, and what kind of penalty regulations have been contracted, in case the environment protection regulations might be violated
• What is considered to be “proper sharing of benefits between the investors and the state” is not spelled out in terms of monetary or percentage figures.

This article was first published by The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 663 - Saturday, 8.5.2010
Have a look at the last editorial - you can access it directly from the main page of The Mirror.

Norbert Klein is the Editor of The Mirror – The Mirror is a daily comprehensive summary and translation of the major Khmer language press - More about The Mirror

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