The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

In Brief: Camko houses ready

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 15:03 Soeun Say

CAMKO City has already accommodated 73 families at its first phase of the satellite city on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, an employee said Tuesday. Kheng Ser, assistant to contractor World City Co Ltd Vice President Duk-kon Kim, said 85 percent of phase one had been sold, adding that the downturn had not negatively affected sales. World City had built and sold 164 townhouses and 18 villas, he added. South Korea’s Shinhan Bank, which also operates local subsidiary Shinhan Khmer Bank, has backed the project with US$2 billion.

In Brief: TV-ad consolidation

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 15:03 Nathan Green

GLOBAL consumer products maker Unilever has consolidated its Cambodia TV planning and buying operations with local advertising agency River Orchid Cambodia. The agency, which is part of the Southeast Asia-focused River Orchid Group, won the contract in a competitive pitch involving local competitors and global media agency Mindshare, General Manager Anthony Polovineo said Tuesday. The company previously split its TV buying between Mindshare and River Orchid.

In Brief: Workers to SKorea fall

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 15:03 May Kunmakara

MINISTRY of Labor and Vocational Training figures show Cambodia sent 1,276 migrant workers to South Korea in the first nine months of 2009, down 17 percent from 1,537 workers over the same period a year earlier. Heng Sour, the ministry’s official in charge of migrant labour relations with South Korea, said last week the drop was due to the effect of the economic crisis on South Korea. “It has not happened only for us, but also for the other 15 countries that send workers there,” he said.

In Brief: Telecoms meet Friday

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 15:03 Nathan Green

A TELECOMS meeting between Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications officials and the private sector originally scheduled for last Friday will now be held this Friday morning, a manager in the industry said. The meeting was postponed because Minister So Khun and ministry Director General Mao Chakrya were in Laos last week attending the launch of a Viettel mobile-phone network in the country. The meeting was originally scheduled to discuss September 29 circular warning firms in the sector over “free” and low tariffs as well as tax obligations. However, the manager said “all known topics” were now on the table.

In Brief: Maybank opens branch

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 15:03 Nguon Sovan

KUALA Lumpur-based Maybank opened its sixth Cambodia branch Monday which it hopes will help boost loan and deposit growth by 38 percent and 15 percent respectively by June next year, according to a press release. The branch was opened near Phnom Penh’s Olympic Stadium, it added. “The new branch will tap the growing opportunities in Cambodia,” Abdul Farid Alias, Maybank’s senior executive vice president, said in the announcement, adding that deposits and total assets for Cambodia operations grew by 27 percent over the past three years.