Vann Molyvann calls on Cambodian engineers abroad to return home to help improve engrg. education and development: Are you ready to return?

 

Architect Vann Molyvann (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo

Monday, 10 August 2009
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

 

Veteran architect Vann Molyvann says Cambodian engineers working abroad should return home to help improve engineering education and development.


Though Cambodia has 180 engineers who have been certified by the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (AFEO), Vann Molyvann, the Kingdom's most famous architect, says there is much to be done to bring Cambodian engineering up to international standards.


"The shortage of facilities, materials, and especially well-experienced professors are the main problem for Cambodian students who want to become engineers," he told the Post on Sunday.


Vann Molyvann was at the forefront of the New Khmer Architecture movement that flourished under the patronage of then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk in the 1950s and 1960s. 


He is responsible for many of Phnom Penh's most iconic structures, including Independence Monument and the National Sports Complex. Now 82 years old, he has worked abroad for much of his professional life, but resettled permanently in Cambodia in 1993.


Of 1,230 engineering graduates who took the AFEO exam this year, only 180 were certified, according to Prak Min, secretary general of the Board of Engineers, Cambodia (BEC). At a meeting on Thursday of the BEC, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An urged the group to train more engineers who meet AFEO requirements.


Prak Min said that Cambodian engineers compare favourably with those of other countries in the region, though he acknowledged that there is more work to be done.


Punching above its weight


Cambodia has more AFEO-certified architects than Laos or Myanmar, a number similar to Malaysia's, he said. Education and training issues, however, remain a challenge.


"Most of our students who graduate from engineering programmes need at least five to seven years of work experience before they can meet professional standards, but right now we have a shortage of jobs for them," Prak Min said.


He added that engineering students particularly need to improve their computer skills and their international language abilities, citing English and French in particular.


Civil society groups, Vann Molyvann argued, may play a role in reinvigorating Cambodian engineering.


Prior to the Khmer Rouge era, Cambodian students often took advantage of scholarships or government aid to study abroad - Vann Molyvann himself studied architecture in France.


But although increased international experience is one element that may improve the skills of Cambodian engineers, Vann Molyvann emphasised that domestic improvements, including the construction of new universities and the improvement of existing ones, would do the greatest good for the largest number of students. International donors, he said, should focus on these domestic projects as they work to address the education gap.


The architect added that Cambodia's turbulent past few decades have held back the development of engineering programmes.


Many of the Kingdom's most skilled professionals fled the country while the Khmer Rouge devastated most of the best Cambodian universities and training institutes, he said.


"In this situation, I call for all the Cambodian engineers who have fled abroad to please return to Cambodia to develop the craft and teach the people of the next generation to be skillful engineers like them," he said.

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Milled rice exports climb, prices soar

Cambodia's milled rice exports increased by more than seven per cent year-on-year during the first 10 months of 2011, while international demand for the grain drove up rice prices by nearly 200 per cent, commerce officials said.

The Kingdom exported more than 136,000 tonnes of milled rice between January and October, nearly 9,300 tonnes more than the same period in 2010, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

Rising international demand has seen the value of Cambodia’s milled rice exports climb by nearly 200 per cent, Kong Putheara, director of statistics and information at the Ministry of Commerce, said yesterday.

Milled rice exports during the first 10 months of the year were valued at US$78.18 million, up from $26.11 million during the same period in 2010, ministry data showed. Kong Putheara said the majority of Cambodia’s milled rice exports went to the European Union, United States, Korea, Japan and other ASEAN countries.

The Cambodian government plans to export one million tonnes of milled rice by 2015, although critics such as the World Bank have said a lack of milling capacity, among several other infrastructure problems, could hold exports to a mere quarter of the quota.

Floods which hit the country in early September have affected the country’s rice export potential, Kong Putheara added, but receding waters in the heaviest hit provinces will soon allow for paddy planting.

Kim Savuth, general director for Khmer Food Company, said his company’s rice exports increased by about 300 per cent by mid November compared to the same period last year. He attributed the increase to a decrease in corruption.

“The increase in exports was because the government put pressure on those officials who took illegal road fees from rice traders,” Kim Savuth said, adding that it was common for officials to set up unauthorised traffic stops on rice-transport routes.

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Royal Group linked to new $2.2bn firm

A fertiliser company that has been approved to do billions of dollars’ worth of business in Cambodia, and is presumed to be based in the United Kingdom, is in fact affiliated with domestic conglomerate Royal Group, an insider has confirmed.

Nitrogen Chemicals and Fertiliser (Cambodia) Ltd would produce urea fertiliser for both the Cambodian and regional markets, Vinojit Ambalavaner, the managing director of Royal Group’s oil, gas and chemicals operations, said. The company plans to later control the distribution, shipping and export of the product as well.

“The intention is to have the whole value chain,” Ambalavaner, who also serves as a director of Nitrogen Chemicals, said.

The Council for the Development of Cambodia this year approved a US$2.22 billion potential investment by Nitrogen Chemicals, although CDC documents list the company’s home country as England.

CDC officials yesterday pointed to Nitrogen Chemicals’ incorporation in the Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, as a reason for attributing the investment to England. The Cayman Islands are a well-known offshore tax shelter for businesses.

The $2.22 billion figure, which is the only approved investment from Europe so far this year, is greater than all the approved investments from ASEAN, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, North Korea and Japan combined, according to CDC statistics through September.

Although Ambalavaner would not disclose the company’s investors, he did say the Royal Group was “involved in a substantial way in this process as a joint venture”.

“There are investors who like publicity, and investors who don’t. In this particular case, this investor is not ready yet until everything is in line. And then, obviously, the investor will come out,” he said.

A copy of Nitrogen Chemicals’ business registration from the Ministry of Commerce, obtained by the Post, names Royal Group chairman Kith Meng as chairman of the fertiliser company’s board of directors.

The document states that Kith Meng has invested $1 million in capital and owns 1,000 shares in the company. Nitrogen Chemicals is listed at the same address as Royal Group’s offices, on Monivong Boulevard.

Kith Meng, reached late yesterday, declined to comment.

Vinojit Ambalavaner is also listed on the form as a director, but holds no capital or shares in the company.

He worked for 10 years, until April of this year, for embattled Australian fertiliser company Burrup.

Ambalavaner said Nitrogen Chemicals aimed to launch its manufacturing plant in 2016, as this type of facility took 39 to 42 months to build.

The company was trying to capture a “huge opportunity”, given the temporary surpluses of fertiliser held by countries such as China and Vietnam would last no longer than five years, he said.

Ambalavaner said Nitrogen Chemicals would be able to take advantage of the eventual shortfalls, in addition to those seen in Australia and New Zealand, saying there were “regional advantages” to being located in Cambodia. That focus on exports was a large part of the business plan, he said, adding that whatever would be produced would be far in excess of what Cambodia needed.

“You could flood the domestic market and still have sufficient [supply] to export,” he said.

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Cambodia’s first life-insurance operations

Canadian firm Manulife Financial plans to set up one of Cambodia’s first life-insurance operations, the company said yesterday.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance had approved “in principle” the investment, which a spokesperson from the company said would be at least US$7 million.

“We believe our entry into Cambodia is both early and timely, in terms of the potential of the country’s life-insurance industry,” David Wong, senior vice-president of Manulife’s ASEAN operations, said yesterday via email.

“We have been either the first, or among the earliest, entrants into similar growth markets,” he added.

Manulife began providing services in Thailand in 1951, he added, as well as in Indonesia and Vietnam in 1985 and 1999, respectively.

There is room to grow in the domestic market as very few Cambodians currently hold insurance policies, according to David Carter, CEO at Infinity Insurance, which sells motor and property insurance in the Kingdom.

“Penetration levels are very low compared to neighbouring countries, and we estimate it to be below one per cent of the population.”

Although competition is high among the Cambodian market’s six general-insurance providers, Carter said Manulife’s focus on life insurance would largely remove the company from that competition.

Four other life insurers recently showed interest in the market, the Post has reported. Indonesian insurer PT Asuransi, Hong Kong-based Asia Insurance and Bangkok Life Insurance and Bangkok Insurance Public – both Thai firms – finalised an initial agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Finance in August.

The Cambodian government will hold 51 per cent of that venture.

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Airport expansion key to Kingdom tourism

The Kingdom needs US$270 million to expand its three airports if the country is to meet its growing demand as a tourist destination, Cambodia Airport CEO Emmanuel Menanteau said yesterday.

The total number of visitors passing through the Kingdom’s airports will approximately double every 10 years, reaching eight million in 2020 from about four million today, then jumping to 16 million by 2030, he said.

The money would be used to boost the overall capacity of Cambodia’s airports – in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville – by the end of this decade in order to better serve a still-burgeoning tourism industry, according to Menanteau.

“We see the next 10 years as being very important for the development of these airports,” he said during a tourism conference held in Phnom Penh yesterday.

Cambodia Airports, which operates the Kingdom’s airports, is 70 per cent owned by France’s group VINCI and 30 per cent controlled by the Malaysian-Cambodian joint venture Muhibbah Masteron, according to the company’s website.

Menanteau said Phnom Penh International Airport’s international terminal would be expanded to accommodate 4 million visitors by 2015.

Siem Reap International Airport will build a new terminal next year with the expectation of serving 4 million passengers by 2014. Preah Sihanouk International Airport aims to reach the 4 million mark by 2020.

Ministry of Tourism director general Tith Chantha said yesterday that airports alone account for 50 per cent of tourist arrivals, and therefore the proposed improvements are crucial to the Cambodian tourism industry.

“This important point in these strategies is thinking about big infrastructure to ensure tourism growth,” he said, pointing also to the importance of Phnom Penh to that growth.

Tith Chantha said the Phnom Penh airport should be able to handle 10 million passengers a year between 2020 and 2025, but at present accommodates only 2 million. At the same time, Sihanoukville airport’s domestic-only operations should eventually grow to include regional flights, he said.

“It will help more development in the coastal region,” he said of the Sihanoukville airport.

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Refresh Mobile buys WING

Refresh Mobile yesterday announced the purchase of mobile banking outfit WING from Australia’s ANZ, although the amount of the deal was not released.

WING will join Refresh’s stable of electronic payment and cell phone top-up services, in addition to soon offering overseas mobile remittance capabilities, Refresh executive director Ian Watson said yesterday.

He added that WING had appealed to Cambodians without bank accounts, who represented the vast majority of the population.

“Our plan is to bank the unbankable,” he said. “We want to be the partner of choice for all consumers in Cambodia.”

WING would not rebrand to Refresh Mobile, Watson said.

WING, a subsidiary company established by ANZ in 2009, allows users to transfer money and make payments via their mobile phones. Workers in Phnom Penh often use the service to remit money to their families in the provinces.

According to officials at Refresh and ANZ, WING is the Kingdom’s largest mobile banking service by subscriber numbers, with more than 350,000 users.

Stephen Higgins, the chief executive of ANZ Royal Bank, a joint venture by ANZ and Cambodia’s Royal Group, said the Australian bank’s focus on the corporate market and upper-end retail customers had prompted the sale of WING.

“WING is a great business, but it actually sits outside this strategy,” he said. “So ANZ went through a process to see if there was a more natural owner for WING.”

ANZ had set up the service as a banking option for those who were traditionally outside the banking market, such as garment workers, Higgins added. He declined to put a figure on the deal, citing a confidentiality agreement.

Refresh’s Watson claimed the acquisition had made his company the Kingdom’s largest mobile banking provider. Competition in the sector was limited, he said.

Cambodia’s only other provider of mobile banking was ACLEDA Unity, which has about 45,000 subscribers, ACLEDA Bank executive vice-president So Phonnary said yesterday.

Demand for the service had grown since Unity opened in 2009, So Phonnary said.

“It’s very important for them to have a bank in their pocket,” she told the Post.

Unity appeals largely to ACLEDA customers, as the mobile service connects directly with the comp-any’s banking system, according to So Phonnary.

She claimed that Unity and WING were not in direct competition with each other.

Cellcard, the Kingdom’s second-largest mobile provider by subscriber numbers, provides a similar service called Cellcard Cash.

According to the Cellcard website, the service can be used to add money to Cellcard accounts, as well as to pay bills and transfer money to other Cellcard users.

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Ex-rail workers fear pay has left station

Representatives of 503 former railway workers protested outside the Ministry of Transportation in Phnom Penh yesterday, demanding the government pay them outstanding salaries ranging from US$2,500 to $5,000 per person.

Railway workers from Battambang, Kampot, Pursat and Takeo who were formerly employed by the government, but were dismissed in April this year when a private company took over the project, claimed they had not received promised government salary stipends since being removed from their posts.

Prom Sokha Tevy, one of nearly 100 representatives gathered yesterday, said former workers were demanding a meeting with the ministry and payment of their “project conclusion entitlements”.

A project conclusion entitlement is a portion of salary collected at each pay, then delivered as a salary stipend on the conclusion of a project.

But the workers formerly employed by the state and dismissed during the private company’s takeover have not received any of this salary stipend, despite the Ministry of Transportation sending a recommendation report to the Ministry of Economics in October saying the workers should be paid.

Koe Chan Vesna, a former railway worker official from Kampot who had worked on the railway there since 1981, said this was the fourth time workers had protested to demand the stipend be paid.

“We stopped work because the railways were taken over by a private company that wanted less staff to save money. We agreed to stop if we were paid our accumulated salary stipend,” Koe Chan Vesna said.

“Right now, our income is so little that we need that money to support ourselves.”

Another former railway worker, Sok Vanna from Phnom Penh, said workers were also demanding an extra $5 a month for each month the salary stipend was not paid.

“We demand the extra money to pressure Prime Minister Hun Sen to help us, but so far we have received nothing,” she said.

“We have worked for the state for such a long time on the railways – for me, since 1979.”

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