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ANZ Group will sell its stake in ANZ Royal Bank to Japan-based JTrust, who will acquire 55 percent of shares in the Cambodian joint venture.

The decision to sell its investment in the Cambodian bank follows ANZ Group’s desire to exit minority investments and partnerships to focus on building its institutional presence in Asia.

“We remain committed to our institutional presence in Asia. Our regional network is an important differentiator for ANZ and key to our ambition to be the best bank to support companies with trade and capital flows throughout the region,” Farhan Faruqui, an ANZ Group executive, said.

“This joint venture has been beneficial to both ANZ and Royal Group over the past 13 years, with ANZ Royal now a strong and successful bank,” he said, adding that the bank views the business environment in Cambodia as “attractive” and recognises it as an important growth economy in Asean.

Royal Group, who owns 45 percent of ANZ Royal, issued a statement in which he praised the bank’s performance under the leadership of ANZ and welcomed its new partner.

“Cambodia’s economy will continue its impressive growth and JTrust along with Royal Group will be actively involved in assisting this growth with the bank’s existing product portfolio as well as a range of new products,” Royal Group, who is owned by local businessman Kith Meng, said.

Work on the expansion of National Road 3, connecting Phnom Penh to the coast, began yesterday.

The project tackles the renovation and expansion of the section between Chom Chao commune in Phnom Penh and Kampot city and is being financed by a $200 million concessional loan from the Chinese government.

The project is expected to take two years to complete.

“National road number 3 will become one of the most important roads in Cambodia, especially for tourists and for the transport of goods,” said Prime Minister Hun Sen during the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday.

“The expansion and renovation of the road will not only boost the tourism sector. It will also facilitate transportation to the deep-sea port in Sihanoukville and make it easier to bring salt from Kampot to Phnom Penh,” the premier said.

KHMER TIMES

Phnom Penh Governor Khoung Sreng on Wednesday discussed the construction of two overpass projects, one at the Choam Chao roundabout near the airport and another at the Kbal Thnal intersection near Monivong Bridge.

The governor held a meeting of City Hall officials to go over plans for overpasses at the two junctions that frequently face traffic jams. Sreng asked officials to find a way to ensure that the project can be green lighted at the earliest.

“[I] urge the meeting to have an articulate solutions for the areas so that the construction can start soon and it could relieve [traffic] congestion at Kbal Thnal and Choam Chao roundabouts in the near future,” he said, according to a post on Facebook.

A plan for the overpass at Choam Chao, a site with frequent traffic congestion, shows an elaborate crisscrossing of streets connecting National Roads 3 and 4 to Russian and Veng Sreng Boulevards.

The capital has seen an increase in public infrastructure projects, mostly focused on transportation. An expanding fleet of buses, a new water taxi and an airport rail link have all sought to ease growing congestion in recent months.

Train service from the provincial capitals of Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces opened on Sunday, an expansion made possible by the retrofitting of previously existing tracks that will also limit the speed at which trains can run.

The 65-kilometre train ride from Serey Saophoan to Battambang will be free for passengers until the end of July and will take about two and a half hours to complete, according to Transportation Minister Sun Chanthol, who oversaw the track’s inaguration on Sunday.

The new line follows on the heels of the opening of a 48-kilometre track between the border town of Poipet and Serey Saophoan on April 4.

Chanthol’s speech at the opening of the new track encouraged drivers to give priority to trains, and he noted that the train had already been involved in crashes with three vehicles in the last month.

“I would like to propose that people along the railway or people that travel across the rail tracks, please be highly cautious,” Chanthol said. “The train has no brake to [stop immediately] like a car.”

With Poipet and Battambang now connected by rail, the ministry plans to open a 107-kilometre stretch of track from Battambang to Pursat on May 29, before moving on to work on the 134-kilometre stretch of track from Pursat to Bat Doeng, in Kampong Speu’s Oudong district.

The total cost to rehabilitate the train track from Poipet to Bat Doeng was estimated at $76.6 million, with $13 million coming from the Asian Development Bank and the rest coming from government coffers, Chanthol said.

The remaining 32 kilometres from Bat Doeng to Phnom Penh was scheduled to be completed last, and passenger service from Phnom Penh to the Thai border at Poipet was set to be available by the end of the year, the minister said.

While a rail link between Phnom Penh and the Thai capital of Bangkok was also in the works, negotiations with Thailand were still ongoing and the minister did not provide a timeline for that service’s opening.

Additionally, the minister mentioned that new railway tracks – from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, Siem Reap to Poipet, and Phnom Penh to Bavet on the Vietnam border – were also being studied by private companies.

“This is under a feasibility study and we have not approved it yet,” he said.

Royal Railways, part of Kith Meng’s Royal Group conglomerate, was granted a 30-year concession to restore and operate existing railways in 2009, but newly constructed railways would be open for other companies to build and operate, according to Chan Samleng, director of the Railway Department at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

The Phnom Penh Post

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ABA Bank, a member of the National Bank of Canada Group, is planning a new expansion in the kingdom, eyeing to raise 11 new branch offices by the end of this year.

Speaking during the relaunch of the bank’s head office yesterday, Askhat Azhikhanov, ABA’s CEO, said they are aiming to add 11 new branches to its existing 55.

He said the bank’s total assets have reached $1.8 billion, which makes ABA the fourth largest banking institution in Cambodia.

In 2014, the National Bank of Canada acquired 10 percent of ABA’s shares, and in 2016 it became a majority shareholder with a 90 percent stake.

Louis Vachon, president and CEO of National Bank of Canada, who was also present at the event, said both institutions are committed to assisting entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses in Cambodia through innovate digital banking solutions.

“We are investing in Cambodia for the long term,” he said.

“Our two institutions share a common goal: to become engines of social and economic development.

“ABA Bank will continue implementing and supporting local programmes and initiatives, as well as increasing the financial literacy of rural populations, supporting tech innovators and promoting sustainable initiatives related to education and poverty alleviation,” he said.

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The first waterway taxi in Phnom Penh came into service on Friday, carrying people from the northern part of the city south to Takhmao city in Kandal province.

A system to transport agricultural products will shortly follow.

Under the management of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, three water taxis are in service from 6am to 6pm, docking at six places along the waterway.

The service will be free until the end of July. The ministry says that after July the fare will be 5,400 riel ($1.30) the 25km trip.

Each new boat costs about $200,000, and the ministry planned to use six of them for a full service which was expected to be introduced soon, Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said.

The blue boats all have air conditioners, and can carry about 60 passengers.

“It is a historical for Cambodia to get a boat taxi service,” Mr Chanthol said.

“We launch the boat taxi service today to allow people use the service before Khmer New Year as the government has promised, along with other promises including the railway service from Poipet and Serey Sophorn and the airport railway service.”

The ministry has partnered with PiPay, a mobile payment app in Cambodia, to sell water taxi tickets. There are ticket offices at each stop.

The boat taxis give people an alternative to the city bus service, privately owned tuk-tuks and other vehicles.

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday applauded the achievement of setting up water taxis. He said the service would help ease traffic congestion on streets.

Phnom Penh Kong Sominea took the boat taxi service with her friends.

“It is good that the boat taxi service is now available,” Ms Sominea said, adding that she had experienced using the city buses.

“It will be easy to use this public transport service.”

Mr Chanthol said the government planned to expand the service beyond the current route to Saang district and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port in Kean Svay district in Kandal province.

“If demand for the boat taxi service increases, the ministry will build more stops in Saang district and Koh Thom and in Phnom Penh Autonomous Port,” he said.

The ministry also has a plan to build a port along the Mekong River for agricultural product transport soon after a feasibility study by the Korean International Cooperation Agency.

A port for agricultural products will be built in Kampong Cham province’s Tonle Bet, Mr Chanthol said.

The project was based on studies by KOICA of the waterway from Phnom Penh to the northeastern Kratie province.

However, Mr Chanthol could not say what the estimated budget for the project would be.

Kim Saroeun, of Kampong Cham provincial agricultural department, said that the project would meet the demands of farmers and agricultural traders in the province who wished to see lower transport costs.

“If the project goes ahead, it will be in response to the wishes of farmers and agricultural product traders because the cost of transporting agricultural products from one place to other is high,” Mr Saroeun said. “When there is a port for agricultural products, it will also become a hub for agricultural products. Especially, it will encourage farmers.”

Mr Saroeun said vegetables, fruit and meat produced in Kampong Cham province were mostly sent to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and a few other provinces. Agro-industry products – cassava and rubber – were mostly sold to Vietnam.

KHMER TIMES

 

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