AGL 38.35 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (0.52%)
AIRLINK 129.10 Increased By ▲ 4.03 (3.22%)
BOP 7.29 Increased By ▲ 0.44 (6.42%)
CNERGY 4.55 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (2.25%)
DCL 8.35 Increased By ▲ 0.44 (5.56%)
DFML 38.71 Increased By ▲ 1.37 (3.67%)
DGKC 80.13 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (3.03%)
FCCL 31.95 Increased By ▲ 1.37 (4.48%)
FFBL 72.99 Increased By ▲ 4.13 (6%)
FFL 12.30 Increased By ▲ 0.44 (3.71%)
HUBC 109.55 Increased By ▲ 5.05 (4.83%)
HUMNL 13.97 Increased By ▲ 0.48 (3.56%)
KEL 5.02 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (7.96%)
KOSM 7.44 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (3.77%)
MLCF 37.95 Increased By ▲ 1.51 (4.14%)
NBP 70.61 Increased By ▲ 4.69 (7.11%)
OGDC 187.99 Increased By ▲ 8.46 (4.71%)
PAEL 25.10 Increased By ▲ 0.67 (2.74%)
PIBTL 7.30 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (2.1%)
PPL 151.00 Increased By ▲ 7.30 (5.08%)
PRL 25.19 Increased By ▲ 0.87 (3.58%)
PTC 17.30 Increased By ▲ 0.90 (5.49%)
SEARL 82.00 Increased By ▲ 3.43 (4.37%)
TELE 7.50 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.88%)
TOMCL 32.95 Increased By ▲ 0.98 (3.07%)
TPLP 8.44 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (3.81%)
TREET 16.55 Increased By ▲ 0.42 (2.6%)
TRG 56.65 Increased By ▲ 1.99 (3.64%)
UNITY 27.87 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (1.35%)
WTL 1.35 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (4.65%)
BR100 10,477 Increased By 387.6 (3.84%)
BR30 30,917 Increased By 1408.4 (4.77%)
KSE100 97,963 Increased By 3388.9 (3.58%)
KSE30 30,535 Increased By 1090.2 (3.7%)

Beijing has pledged billions of dollars to build new infrastructure in Cambodia, officials said Thursday, as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ended a two-day charm offensive currying favour for its mega-dams across the Mekong.
The storied waterway, which twists through parts of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, is the world's largest inland fishery and helps feed around 60 million people across its basin.
Environmental groups fear the Chinese dams will destroy fish stocks and plunge some of the region's poorest people, who depend on the river, deeper into penury. Beijing has already interrupted the Mekong's upper reaches with six dams, and is investing in more than half of the 11 dams planned further south, according to the non-profit group International Rivers.
Li travelled to Phnom Penh on Wednesday for the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation forum, a Chinese-backed meeting to press China's case for ambitious dam projects. On Thursday, he met Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, a Beijing ally, and - among a welter of projects for the poor Southeast Asian country - offered to fund a new airport in Phnom Penh, a highway from the capital to the coastal city of Sihanoukville, and a hospital.
A joint statement after the state trip lauded the "important and fruitful outcomes of the visit", which includes continued medical checkups in China for Cambodia's king and queen mother. Observers say China often uses cash and soft loans for high-profile infrastructure projects to butter up its poorer neighbours.
The expressway alone would cost $2 billion, Cambodia's transport minister Sun Chanthol told reporters later, without clarifying if it was newly-promised money. The future of the Mekong river is a key strategic issue between the neighbours. With control over the headwaters of the river - known in China as the Lancang - Beijing can dam its section while the impacts are felt downstream.
Communities in the lower Mekong countries have reported depleted fish stocks in recent years and are blaming the dams. Environmental groups warn the blockages pose a grave threat to fish habitats by disrupting migrations and the flow of key nutrients and sediment - not to mention displacing tens of thousands of people with flooding.
Experts say it is too early to draw full conclusions about the impact given a lack of baseline data and the complex nature of the river's ecosystem. Li sent a far more reassuring message to forum participants in his remarks on Wednesday.
"We want to properly address the relationship between up- and downstream countries and accommodate the interests of all countries along the river," he said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018

Comments

Comments are closed.