Cheay Areng Dam is a proposed 108-megawatt (145,000 hp) dam project on Areng river in Koh Kong Province, Cambodia. Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group from China was granted approval on February 19 for six months of extensive drilling, geological mapping and prospecting in the dam concession. Cambodia is a country in great need of electricity. The Central Cardamom Protected Forest (CCPF) complex covers 4,013 square kilometres (1,549 sq mi) square kilometers. The largest unbroken tract of woodland in Southeast Asia, it is made up of a series of adjoining national parks. About 1300 indigenous people live in Areng Valley. Furthermore, it has a high biodiversity being inhabited by 31 endangered animal species, including the world’s second-largest population of wild Siamese crocodile. China Guodian Corporation once intended to build the dam. Buddhist monks and villagers are against the project.
As of 2014, the indigenous Chong people continue to oppose construction of the dam, which would provide power principally to neighboring countries.