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Tourist Plan Mooted

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Another Massive Tourist Plan Mooted For Koh Kong

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Phnom Penh (FN), Sept. 3 – Chinese company Union Development Group Co., Ltd. planned to invest $1,200 million in the construction of “Tourist Vacation City” projects in early 2019 in Koh Kong province.

The city, projected on 1,200 hectares of land, aims to strengthen tourism, economy, and trade in Cambodia.

“The city will feature mixed facilities such as five-star hotel, modern condo, bungalow, working office, business center and international standard park,” said Li Tao, Chairman of the Board of Director of Union Development Group Co., Ltd at a courtesy call on Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak on Monday.

Li hoped that the project will be supported by the Royal Government of Cambodia, and the company will seek for partners through the 15th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) which will take place from 11-15 September 2018 in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China.

Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak thanked the Union Development Group Co., Ltd for investing in Koh Kong province to promote Cambodian tourism sites and create jobs for the locals.

Union Development Group Co., Ltd. has signed a contract with the Royal Government of Cambodia on 9 May 2008 to develop Dara Sakor project on a 36,000-hectare land. The company has been actively implementing plan with investment capital of more than $1,500 million on the construction of necessary buildings and infrastructure such as: infrastructure, golf club, airport, deep-water port, clean water supply and electricity systems.

 

http://www.freshnewsasia.com/index.php/en/localnews/97554-2018-09-03-11-27-02.html

 

 

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dicey eye

The first Prime Minister of Belize, George Price said, "Progress brings problems."

So true.

The Chinese plans superficially appear positive, but what will come of it? Progress at what social/cultural price?

Edited by dicey eye
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andy
2 hours ago, dicey eye said:

The Chinese plans superficially appear positive, but what will come of it?

 

Superficially - I was trying to find a sentence, of some meaning to the situation. This will have to do for the moment.

 

                     ‘But each is so superficially sketched that it is hard to develop a connection with any of them.’

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andy
4 hours ago, dicey eye said:

"Progress brings problems."

 

This was the start of a big project! If I am not mistaken it is also known as "The seven dragons project".

 

The lease is 99 years. The first 10 years rent free, but if I am not mistaken the rent is due very soon.

 

Koh Kong ‘Vacation Town’ to cost $1.2B

Hor Kimsay | Publication date 05 September 2018 | 08:52 ICT

 

 

 

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
A golf course in front of an almost-complete hotel inside the Union Development Group’s massive resort area in Koh Kong’s Kiri Sakor district in 2014. Sreng Meng Srun

Union Development Group (UDG), the Chinese developer behind Koh Kong province’s $3.8 billion tourism project called Dara Sakor, has unveiled plans for yet another project called “Tourism Vacation Town”.

The announcement comes despite the company releasing little information about its previously touted venture.

News of the plan was disseminated via the Ministry of Commerce’s (MoC) Facebook page on Monday, after UDG’s board director Li Tao met Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak.

The MoC’s press release said Tao had told Sorasak that his firm plans to invest another $1.2 billion to develop 1,200ha of land in Koh Kong.

The company plans to build a new town called “Tourism Vacation Town”, consisting of a five-star hotel, modern condominiums, commercial office buildings and a resort.

While construction is expected to begin early next year, MoC spokesman Seang Thay said on Tuesday that he had not received details about the project.

Thay said the company plans to put its business model on display during the China-Asean Expo in Nanning later this month. He said the meeting with Sorasak was to inform the government of the action plan.

“The company did not come to meet the minister in order to have the project approved, but to reveal the plan and seek support before taking it to display at the exhibition,” he said, adding that he, too, is in the dark about the specifics of the plan.

“It is a big project, and that is why it might need a long time to complete.”

The MoC did not say which area of Koh Kong the new project will be built in.

UDG, a subsidiary of state-owned Chinese real estate developer Wanlong Group, holds a 45,000-hectare land concession in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor and Kiri Sakor districts.

In 2008, it received a 99-year lease approval to build Dara Sakor Seashore Resort – a project that consist of a casino and golf course within Botum Sakor National Park.

Little information about the project and its progress is available to the public. It is still unclear how much money has been spent.

Neither a representative of the company nor Koh Kong’s provincial governor could be reached for comment as of press time.

The announcement comes amid a surge of China-backed development projects along the country’s southern coast. Most are aimed at the growing number of tourists from China that have been spending time in the Kingdom.

Sihanoukville, in particular, has seen property prices skyrocket due to the growing interest by Chinese investors. Real estate sources report that land parcels in some areas have nearly doubled in price over the last few years.

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dicey eye
4 hours ago, andy said:

Little information about the project and its progress is available to the public. It is still unclear how much money has been spent.

Secrecy is normally used to hide something. Wonder what those well-heeled  Chinese are covering up?

Almost left today to visit Andy in Koh Kong. Was in a bitter contract dispute and just about an hour away from telling admin to shove it.

They capitulated so I canceled my trip. Was looking forward to tasting some of his luscious looking grub. See if it was as favorful as it appears in photos.

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andy
7 hours ago, dicey eye said:

Almost left today to visit Andy in Koh Kong. 

 

You would be welcome too. What would you have asked us to cook? I would not come until road 48 is repaired. Someone told me last night that, Korean company is fixing it.

 

7 hours ago, dicey eye said:

Wonder what those well-heeled  Chinese are covering up?

 

I would say there is some discussion between business people involved in this huge project. I may be speculating about this project and it's business partners. Deep water and many countries and authorities of them talking on this project. One thing to bare-in-mind, this started close to ten years ago, and no rent paid for the first ten years. But the overall cost seems to be cheap. Think about what had happened at the start of this, and it's involvements. HE himself was accused of leasing far more land then was allowed by law.

 

18 hours ago, andy said:

Li hoped that the project will be supported by the Royal Government of Cambodia, and the company will seek for partners through the 15th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) which will take place from 11-15 September 2018 in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China.

Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak thanked the Union Development Group Co., Ltd for investing in Koh Kong province to promote Cambodian tourism sites and create jobs for the locals.

Union Development Group Co., Ltd. has signed a contract with the Royal Government of Cambodia on 9 May 2008 to develop Dara Sakor project on a 36,000-hectare land. The company has been actively implementing plan with investment capital of more than $1,500 million on the construction of necessary buildings and infrastructure such as: infrastructure, golf club, airport, deep-water port, clean water supply and electricity systems.

 

It's difficult to understand Asian business people at the best of times.

 

13 hours ago, andy said:

UDG, a subsidiary of state-owned Chinese real estate developer Wanlong Group, holds a 45,000-hectare land concession in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor and Kiri Sakor districts.

 

Li hoped that the project will be supported by the Royal Government of Cambodia. Now Li is going to China to seek partners for the development. Looks like the company don't want to pay for the full investment. Or have the people behind the scenes pulled out gracefully. That is until we read the quote above of a subsidiary of state-owned. Now also gained another 9,000-hectare of land.

Then the story of building planning moves on again.

 

13 hours ago, andy said:

Union Development Group (UDG), the Chinese developer behind Koh Kong province’s $3.8 billion tourism project called Dara Sakor, has unveiled plans for yet another project called “Tourism Vacation Town”.

 

13 hours ago, andy said:

The announcement comes despite the company releasing little information about its previously touted venture.

News of the plan was disseminated via the Ministry of Commerce’s (MoC) Facebook page on Monday, after UDG’s board director Li Tao met Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak.

The MoC’s press release said Tao had told Sorasak that his firm plans to invest another $1.2 billion to develop 1,200ha of land in Koh Kong.

 

So what is going on here? Is it going to happen. I wonder where the land of that size is coming from in the last quote, but I had heard rumours, most of the beach area and Bakkhlang were being bought for development. I also noticed myself a few years ago, a new building going up, I went to have a look and take a few photo's. Two large bodies told me to leave "Now". Apparently a new Chinese run prison. 

 

Also it's been mentioned how much building and investment as taken place. I know it's a no go area for some, and no fishing boats.

The runway in the first post, where is it? On google maps I don't see one and Koh Kong's is, well...….

 

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This is the area of the project.

 

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Google map on the area. See what you readers come up with.

 

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There has been lots involved with this area, and the project.

 

Senior gov’t official pays official visit to UDG site

 

Pech Sotheary | Publication date 10 August 2015 | 08:28 ICT

The senior government official in charge of land dispute resolution visited more than 300 Koh Kong province families who are threatened with eviction by China’s Union Development Group to compile a report on the issue for Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Vann Sam Oeun, vice chairman of the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development, who is a former opposition politician, said the inspection last week lasted for two days and included meetings with the 318 affected families who remain at the site in Kiri Sakor and Botum Sakor districts, and company officials.

The villagers, he said, asked that they be allowed to remain where they are under a government policy whereby local people can have their land excluded from developers’ plans.

“I will prepare the report for the prime minister based on what they told me,” Sam Oeun explained.

Brak Thorn, a representative of Poy Chorpun villagers, said the community did not desire compensation and relocation.

“We only want to continue our ancestor’s traditions and to live comfortably,” he said.

In Kongchit, provincial coordinator for rights group Licadho, said allowing the villagers to stay would ensure their living standards were maintained.

“If the government cuts off the land for the people, it will help them have a better life,” he said.

“If they are forced to move to a new site, they will have to start from scratch.”

 

 

Judge hears protesters involved in UDG suits

 

Phak Seangly | Publication date 03 November 2015 | 06:33 ICT

The Koh Kong Provincial Court yesterday questioned 17 villagers locked in a land dispute with the Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) over a pair of competing lawsuits filed in the wake of a clash between locals and company security guards in January.

The January brawl occurred when villagers accused the company of attempting to block an access road to their homes, and moved to intervene. Villagers and guards soon began pelting each other with rocks, with villagers also allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at the guards.

Deputy provincial prosecutor Iv Tray, who questioned the villagers, said the company had sued the locals after the altercation for breaking a car window and injuring some security guards, with the villagers then countersuing the company for allegedly injuring some of their number as well.

“I called them in to give the testimonies for both lawsuits,” Tray said.

Three injured villagers are demanding a total of $15,000 in compensation, according to village representative Prak Thorn.

Ieng Lay, once chief of security guards for UDG, said yesterday he had left the company and declined to comment.

Meanwhile, another group of villagers who accuse the company of destroying their homes have been staging a sit-in on land adjacent to UDG’s concession since Saturday, demanding a resolution to the dispute.

“The company cleared the land and pulled down our houses before Khmer New Year,” said protester Lim Cher, 35. “On Friday, it started clearing again and the people gathered and camped out to protest . . . then, the company stopped the clearing.”

 

UDG promises never fulfilled, say villagers

 

Sen David | Publication date 30 May 2016 | 06:54 ICT

Some 200 of 381 families in Koh Kong province involved in an ongoing land dispute with Union Development Group have returned to their old villages in Kiri Sakor district, claiming the company failed to fully provide compensation promised five years ago.

Oum Virak, 55, a villager originally from Koh Sdach commune, said more than 200 families who had relocated to a site 20 kilometres away in 2011 decided to return to the area on May 27. He said the Chinese company had promised to provide 5 hectares of land for each family, $2,000 and a rice supply for three years.

He claimed UDG only gave each family 2.5 hectares of land and three packages of rice and villagers never received the $2,000. “We stopped believing the promises that the company made, that’s why we came back,” he said.

UDG, which holds some 45,000 hectares of concessions in Koh Kong, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Another of the villagers, Ngin Pak, said that living at the new site was “very difficult”. “The infrastructure is inadequate: there’s no school or hospital. We need the authority to find a solution for us,” he said.

Khim Chandy, governor of Kiri Sakor district, said the villagers only came back to demand that UDG fulfill its promise.

“They did not come back for living at their old place,” he said. “Now, [district] authorities and the company are finding a solution for them.”

 

 

Union Development Group bulldozes crops

 

Kong Meta | Publication date 05 April 2018 | 06:52 ICT

 

Union Development Group employees driving bulldozers allegedly tore down trees and destroyed the crops of seven families who have refused compensation from the Chinese development firm in Koh Kong’s Kiri Sakor district on Tuesday.

Peurng Loun, a 45-year-old villager who has lived in Koh Sdech commune since the end of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, said the bulldozers cleared the family’s coconut, mango and tamarind trees and threatened to destroy more.

“Last year, the company offered me compensation of $30,000 but I did not accept it ... because our livelihood depends on this land; it produces crops and fruits for us and I can do fishing, and it was given to me by my parents,” she said.

Like many villagers caught unawares by sweeping land rights reforms in the early 2000s, Loun does not have a land title.

UDG representatives could not be reached on Wednesday.

The Chinese firm is building a massive $3.8 billion tourism complex along the coast, sparking land disputes with hundreds of families. In February, 14 families in two neighbouring communes filed a court complaint against UDG security guards for burning their crops and huts.

Kiri Sakor District Deputy Police Chief Kim Socheat confirmed his forces were at the scene but said the company “only cleared the land of those families who already received compensation”. ''

However, Nheab Eurn, the Adhoc provincial coordinator in Koh Kong, said none of the families had accepted compensation. He said company representatives gave the villagers three days to leave or face having their homes torn down as well.

 

 

Koh Kong villagers file petition against Chinese development company

 

Chhay Channyda | Publication date 06 April 2018 | 16:59 ICT

 

About 30 villagers embroiled in a land dispute with Union Development Group (UDG) in Koh Kong plan to file a petition asking the provincial governor to intervene after the Chinese company bulldozed crops last week.

Villager Peurng Loun, 45, said two UDG excavators destroyed hundreds of coconuts, mangoes and cashews on her 2.5 hectares of land in Koh Sdach commune in Kiri Sakor district on April 3. Villagers in neighbouring Prek Khsach commune have joined the petition, fearing similar losses.

The company is building a massive $3.8 billion tourism complex along the coast, sparking a series of land disputes.

Ouch Thouch, director of the provincial hall, on Sunday said some villagers had come on Friday with individual documents in hand to seek intervention, though “they did not have a joint petition”. Thouch said he was unaware if any action had already been taken on this case.

Loun said that the company tried to offer her $30,000 and 2 hectares of land elsewhere in November, but she did not accept the deal.

“I never agreed to receive the offer,” she said. “I only visited the new area they wanted to offer us, but I never signed an agreement.”

In the past, Loun demanded $100,000 to leave her village and crops, but now she says she wants to get her land cut out of UDG’s development area so she can stay.

Provincial Governor Mithona Phouthorng said that as of Friday afternoon she had not received the petition, but would find a way to resolve the dispute.

“Villagers at that area, most of them already received compensation,” she said.

Sreng Hong, deputy provincial governor, said that he would look into this case on Monday.

According to provincial officials with rights groups Adhoc and Licadho, UDG representative Chieng Lan, also known as Vireak, on April 3 led 20 personnel armed with batons and guns, as well as two excavators, to destroy crops on the land Loun claims to own, although she has no land title. Lan could not be reached on Friday.

After bulldozing on Tuesday, the company gave villagers three days to negotiate. Seven families living in Koh Sdach commune so far have refused to accept compensation.

Kiri Sakor district authorities confirmed they cleared the property, but did so only on the land of families who had already accepted compensation, which the villagers disputed.

According to Hour In, provincial coordinator for rights group Licadho, the villagers affected by the crop destruction also intend to file a criminal lawsuit against the development company.

He said that UDG was granted about 45,000 hectares from the government to develop land spanning Kiri Sakor and Botum Sakor districts, affecting thousands of families. While some have relocated, others are fighting against what they characterised as unfair compensation.

“So far, the solution for villagers offered by the government’s inter-ministerial committee, led by the Environment Ministry, is not transparent at all,” In said.

“The negotiations with villagers [has involved] threats [and] intimidation,” he said. “Some families who are relatives to the authorities have received high compensation, some up to $100,000.”

 

 

Koh Kong dispute villagers in court over razed crops

 

Soth Koemsoeun | Publication date 25 April 2018 | 06:51 ICT

 

he Koh Kong Provincial Court on Tuesday heard the testimony of 13 families locked in a land dispute with Chinese company Union Development Group (UDG) after their crops and property were razed.

The families, from two villages in Prek Khsach commune, Kiri Sakor district, claim that in January of this year, some 60 security guards allegedly burned their crops along with some huts that were standing on land allotted to the company. More farmland was destroyed, allegedly by UDG excavators, earlier this month.

While the villagers admit that they do not own land titles, they are seeking compensation for the destruction of their cassava, jackfruit, mango, rubber and coconut crops.

Sem Thy, a representative of the plaintiffs, said he did not have much hope in the court process as the Chinese company “has a strong influence” in the province.

“I have no hope to win the case with this company because all levels of authority do not dare to solve the case because it is very influential,” he said.

“They are clearing the land without fearing anyone.”

UDG representative Kem Leng could not be reached for comment.

 

 

UDG appears ready to measure disputed land

 

Phak Seangly | Publication date 27 April 2018 | 06:51 ICT

 

Chinese-owned company Union Development Group has transported hundreds of posts to a disputed area it plans to develop in Botum Sakor district in Koh Kong province, exacerbating fears among villagers that the company will demarcate land they claim is theirs.

Villagers said on Thursday that the company brought demarcation posts and an excavator to Prek Kha’chong, Tuol Pur, Bak Roneas and Tanoun villages on Tuesday. “Hundreds of concrete posts are being transported in ... near our disputed land. This makes us very worried about losing land, because we’re afraid that the company demarcates to grab our land,” said villager Kun Sao.

One person who requested anonymity said they bought 118 hectares of land in 2006 and 2007. The company’s posts were laid at the border to their land, and the source said they would stop the company’s workers if they demarcated on their property.

Ninety-three families from Tanoun commune sought the intervention of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet in January, claiming that authorities and the company had broken its promise of giving them $8,000 per hectare of land lost in compensation. Authorities started collecting information on the compensation received earlier this month.

Tanoun Commune Chief Vaing Vireak declined to comment. Tou Savuth, Botum Sakor district governor, said he had ordered Vireak to investigate the purpose of the demarcation posts. “We will stop the company if their demarcation affects the villagers’ land,” he said.

UDG could not be reached.

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dicey eye

Just gotta wait and see. Still wonder why all the subterfuge? Why the information freeze?

Edited by dicey eye

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bamboo

If smaller Asian Countries aren't careful China will buy the out.

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