Land
Public land lease
Government, plantation managers trade blame
The managers of some of Cambodia’s most controversial agribusiness plantations on 21 July blamed their many land disputes on the government, accusing officials of failing to educate communities about the benefits of their giant farms. Rights groups blame economic land concessions for some of Cambodia’s worst problems, ...
Lao workers returning home to work in SEZs
Speaking to Vientiane Times on 13 July, Chairman of the Champassak Provincial SEZ Authority Mr Khamphon Nuansengsy said that his authority conducted a survey recently and found that many more Lao people wanted to return to work in their hometown as long as jobs were available. In the ...
Protest leader arrested in Mondolkiri after reoccupation attempt
An anti-eviction protester who police claim orchestrated several large-scale reoccupation attempts on a planned rubber plantation in Mondolkiri province was arrested on 11 July, police and a rights monitor said. About 500 families living on the land were evicted in 2012, three years after the Pacific ...
NGO releases ELC figures to help with ‘shortcomings’
The NGO Forum on 28 June released an extensive and updated accounting of economic land concessions in Cambodia, suggesting that in a 20-year period, 267 ELCs totalling 1,532,783 hectares were granted. The data collection, from 1995 to the end of 2015, was conducted by the Research Advocacy ...
Most ELC disputes still unresolved
More than two-thirds of the 158 land disputes triggered by large-scale plantations over the past two decades have yet to be fully resolved, according to a new report by the NGO Forum on Cambodia. Drawing largely on incomplete government records, the umbrella group’s Statistical Analysis of ...
The fight for resources in Myanmar’s deep south
Tanintharyi Region, the southern tip of Myanmar, abounds with natural resources and the problems associated with them. Residents in the isolated region face over-mining by foreign companies, the proposed development of a deep-sea port, an oil refinery and a special economic zone, mechanised farming of rubber ...
Thilawa SEZ phase two nears completion
The second phase of a 2400-hectare special economic zone to the south of Yangon will be finished in July, with residential and commercial developments to follow, an official has said. Once the second phase of Zone A is finished in July, a company called Thilawa Property ...
Boten-Mohan economic zones attract billions in investment
Businesses have poured more than 100 billion yuan into the Laos-China Boten-Mohan border economic cooperation zone, lured by investment incentives offered by the governments of both sides, the latest data shows. Located at the Mohan Border Port, which is China’s gateway to Laos and provides access ...
Public had no say in Tak SEZ, NHRC finds
The National Human Rights Commission will report to the government after its investigation on 23 May into alleged human rights violations in the Tak Special Economic Development Zone. Its conclusion was that the main problem in the dispute was the lack of opportunity for public involvement in the ...
Investor excitement builds ahead of MTSH listing
Investor appetite is high for shares in Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Limited, which will on 20 May become the second company to list on the Yangon Stock Exchange, securities firms say. MTSH, established in 2013 by a nine-shareholder consortium, will list 3.9 million shares at a base ...