Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Mixed feelings toward dredging-fuelled fund

Mixed feelings toward dredging-fuelled fund

Sand dredgers near Koh Sralav village in Koh Kong.
Sand dredgers near Koh Sralav village in Koh Kong. Athena Zelandonii

Mixed feelings toward dredging-fuelled fund

Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem yesterday announced in Koh Kong province the creation of a community fund of nearly $40,000 for Koh Sralao village, according to a ministry official, who said the funds came from a 2-cent-per-cubic-metre levy imposed on sand dredgers in the area.

Hing Tun, chief of the ministry’s mine construction department, said the funds had been collected between 2007 and 2015, and that villagers could propose projects such as roads and water systems “and the ministry will drop the funds if the ministry has money”.

“Villagers are happy to have this fund; they can get roads and travel easily – they congratulate this plan,” he said, insisting that dredging activities in the area had now ceased.

Local resident Ek Sophal, who attended the event where the fund was announced, said the figure given was just over $37,000, and contested Tun’s assertion that dredging had stopped, saying it still continued under cover of nightfall.

She added that the dredging had had a major impact on the villagers, most of them fishermen, who saw their catches dwindle with the dredgers’ arrival.

“We welcome any development plan in our community, but the development plan must not be in exchange for our sand.” she said.

Cambodia’s sand industry has become a source of controversy in recent weeks, with civil society pointing to massive discrepancies between the Kingdom’s reported exports of sand to Singapore and the island nation’s recorded imports, prompting accusations of mismanagement and corruption.

Based on the ministry’s proclaimed 2-cent-per-cubic metre levy, the sand haul from Koh Sralao would total more than 1.8 million cubic metres – or approximately 2.7 million tonnes, nearly all of Cambodia’s reported exports to Singapore between 2007 and 2015. Singapore, by contrast, reports importing 72.7 million tonnes of Cambodian sand during the same period.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Ministry orders all schools, public and private, to close for SEA Games

    From April 20 to May 18, all public and private educational institutions will be closed to maintain order and support Cambodia's hosting of the 32nd SEA Games and 12th ASEAN Para Games, said a directive from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. Cambodia will host the

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide

  • Almost 9K tourists see equinox sunrise at Angkor Wat

    Nearly 9,000 visitors – including 2,226 international tourists – gathered at Angkor Wat on March 21 to view the spring equinox sunrise, according to a senior official of the Siem Reap provinical tourism department. Ngov Seng Kak, director of the department, said a total of 8,726 people visited Angkor Wat to