Villagers are protesting the illegal eviction (Photo Chauk Chey, Koh Santepheap newspaper)Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Tonle Bassac Dwellers Say No to Eviction
By Jason McBride and Prak Chan Thul
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Residents from Tonle Bassac commune's Group 78 are contesting their threatened eviction, as municipal officials devise plans to develop a dirt road running through property currently occupied by nearly 150 land-owning families, officials and residents said.
Municipal officials told residents at a June 28 City Hall meeting that home owners would be given 5-by-l2-meter plots in Trapeang Krasang commune, Dangkao district, about 20 km outside the city, in return for their land next to the new National Assembly, villager representative Lim Sambo said last week.
The 146 land-owning families have also been offered a total of $500 each, he said.
"We didn't accept because we have been living here since 1983," Lim Sambo said, adding that the residents have demanded $700 per square meter for their land.
The municipality plans to evict the home owners as soon as possible, but no date has been set, Deputy Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong said. He added that residents will not be given the $700 per square meter they have asked for. "We have some budget, but not much," he said.
Pa Socheatvong claimed that the villagers are living on what was once a state road, which belongs to the state and needs to be developed. If they resist eviction, they may be brought to court, he warned.
An unspecified number of renters living at the site will not receive any compensation, according to a June 22 letter from Chamkar Mon District Governor Lor Yoy.
About 100 Group 78 residents assembled Sunday morning at a Cambodian Center for Human Rights public forum where the proposed eviction was protested, said Ou Virak, CCHR spokesman. Villagers posted about 200 yellow flags with the words "stop the eviction" written in Khmer on their houses during the event.
Ou Virak said officials have told residents they will have to leave either on July 12 or July 14.
Group 78 is situated inside Village 14, from which about 1,000 families were evicted last month from land sold to Sour Srun Enterprise Co Ltd, reportedly to build a shopping center.
Municipal officials told residents at a June 28 City Hall meeting that home owners would be given 5-by-l2-meter plots in Trapeang Krasang commune, Dangkao district, about 20 km outside the city, in return for their land next to the new National Assembly, villager representative Lim Sambo said last week.
The 146 land-owning families have also been offered a total of $500 each, he said.
"We didn't accept because we have been living here since 1983," Lim Sambo said, adding that the residents have demanded $700 per square meter for their land.
The municipality plans to evict the home owners as soon as possible, but no date has been set, Deputy Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong said. He added that residents will not be given the $700 per square meter they have asked for. "We have some budget, but not much," he said.
Pa Socheatvong claimed that the villagers are living on what was once a state road, which belongs to the state and needs to be developed. If they resist eviction, they may be brought to court, he warned.
An unspecified number of renters living at the site will not receive any compensation, according to a June 22 letter from Chamkar Mon District Governor Lor Yoy.
About 100 Group 78 residents assembled Sunday morning at a Cambodian Center for Human Rights public forum where the proposed eviction was protested, said Ou Virak, CCHR spokesman. Villagers posted about 200 yellow flags with the words "stop the eviction" written in Khmer on their houses during the event.
Ou Virak said officials have told residents they will have to leave either on July 12 or July 14.
Group 78 is situated inside Village 14, from which about 1,000 families were evicted last month from land sold to Sour Srun Enterprise Co Ltd, reportedly to build a shopping center.
1 comment:
While most of Cambodian are earning less than a dollar per day, but the land prices are skyroketing. That mean that all corrupted monies cannot be transfered to oversaes for a safe deposit but just to buy land instead of keeping the dollars. These corrupted officials are worrying that once USA change their currency, all their corrupted monies will be gone like papers.
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