Cambodian Communities Protest Land Seizures for Road Construction

Cambodian Communities Protest Land Seizures for Road Construction

Latin American Herald Tribune | 26 January 2016

BANGKOK – As bulldozers plowed through their farms and homes, communities living in Cambodia’s Chroy Changvar peninsula, east of Phnom Penh, protested against the seizure of their land for a road that will be built next to a billion-dollar satellite city project, local news reported on Tuesday.

“We are not against building the road, but the company and authorities should compensate us in advance; don’t just come and clear our land like this,” said resident Uy Phary, who said she was offered only $15 per square meter [highway robbery!] of land, which she does not agree to, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

Bulldozers began clearing the land Monday for a road that will run alongside the planned Chroy Changva Satellite City, being built by the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation – a conglomerate called in Mandarin the Cambodia Overseas Chinese-Cambodian Investment Corporation – run by local business tycoon Pung Khieu Se.

Some 244 households from six communities – some of whom have lived on the land since 1972 [well...]– are now appealing to the government to provide adequate compensation for the 140-hectares of farmland that they stand to lose, said Chea Sophat, the communities’ spokesperson.
Chroy Changvar District Governor, Klang Huot, has called the residents – who say they will lose 90 percent of their farms – “narrow-minded and greedy” because they have “huge amounts of land.”

Governor Huot has said that only residents whose houses are being bulldozed will receive the $15 compensation.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has long tried to encourage the development of the peninsula, which is flanked by the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers and has a view of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.

But the lack of transport infrastructure has until recently been a stumbling block for private sector investment on the peninsula.