Logistics Dept To Relocate; Luxury Villas To Move in
By Yun Samean
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
The Interior Ministry's logistics department will soon relocate from the city block housing the Royal Palace to make way for luxury villas to be constructed by a private company, the firm's director said Wednesday.
The logistics department will move to a new location in Meanchey district's Prek Pra commune as part of a government land swap deal made last year with land developer Phanimex Co Ltd.
Phanimex Director Suy Sophan said her company has already finished constructing the buildings that are to house the logistics department and that the move should occur within weeks.
The only obstacle to the move is the condition of the road leading to the new facility, she said.
"We are paving the road, and after it is finished the department can move in," she added.
Suy Sophan declined to reveal how much Phanimex spent to build the new department headquarters. The logistics department’s land in the Royal Palace city block was controversially given to Phanimex in July 2005 by the Municipal Department of Land Management according to documents obtained in August 2005.
Suy Sophan said that once Phanimex takes possession of the land, it will be leveled divided into plots and luxury villas will be constructed and sold.
Guards at the department's current location—situated at the intersection of Streets 19 and 240—said Wednesday that they have been told they will be moving soon.
Prince Sisowath Thomico of the Sangkum Jatiniyum Front Party said that the CPP had slighted the monarchy by allowing the land to be handed over to a private company.
Prince Thomico added that the land had been the property of the Royal Palace since the time he was born.
Norodom Ranariddh Party spokesman Muth Channtha said that he feared that tall buildings might be constructed on the land which he said could detract from the palace's beauty.
"If the government is kind enough [it] should hand back the land to the Royal Palace—for the government's honor," he said.
Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said that the land used to be Royal Palace property but has been under state control since 1979 when a Vietnamese backed army toppled the Khmer Rouge.
He added that the Interior Ministry alone brokered the land swap with Phanimex.
Interior Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak declined to comment saying he was unaware of the details of the deal.
The logistics department will move to a new location in Meanchey district's Prek Pra commune as part of a government land swap deal made last year with land developer Phanimex Co Ltd.
Phanimex Director Suy Sophan said her company has already finished constructing the buildings that are to house the logistics department and that the move should occur within weeks.
The only obstacle to the move is the condition of the road leading to the new facility, she said.
"We are paving the road, and after it is finished the department can move in," she added.
Suy Sophan declined to reveal how much Phanimex spent to build the new department headquarters. The logistics department’s land in the Royal Palace city block was controversially given to Phanimex in July 2005 by the Municipal Department of Land Management according to documents obtained in August 2005.
Suy Sophan said that once Phanimex takes possession of the land, it will be leveled divided into plots and luxury villas will be constructed and sold.
Guards at the department's current location—situated at the intersection of Streets 19 and 240—said Wednesday that they have been told they will be moving soon.
Prince Sisowath Thomico of the Sangkum Jatiniyum Front Party said that the CPP had slighted the monarchy by allowing the land to be handed over to a private company.
Prince Thomico added that the land had been the property of the Royal Palace since the time he was born.
Norodom Ranariddh Party spokesman Muth Channtha said that he feared that tall buildings might be constructed on the land which he said could detract from the palace's beauty.
"If the government is kind enough [it] should hand back the land to the Royal Palace—for the government's honor," he said.
Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said that the land used to be Royal Palace property but has been under state control since 1979 when a Vietnamese backed army toppled the Khmer Rouge.
He added that the Interior Ministry alone brokered the land swap with Phanimex.
Interior Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak declined to comment saying he was unaware of the details of the deal.
2 comments:
This is another cultural terrorism committed by the CPP government. This land is part of the Royal Palace, and it should be beautified to attract more tourists to the capital or extended as part of the Kuntha Bopha Children Hospital.
Phnom Penh does not have much else to offer to tourists, who have no intention of visiting those ugly luxury villas next to the Royal Palace. These land-swapping deals have been made without any checks and balances.
Now that the Khmer Rouge Tribunal process gets stucked, don't be surprised if the land for the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum will also be swapped in the future. It has already been encroached upon by certain people without any considerable measure undertaken to preserve it by the CPP government. We know they can if they want to, because they have been evicting people from their lands all over the place.
This is the shamefull government is destroying a symbol of a nation and pretending it has nothing to do with it. What is a gov't to do when the ministry of interior breaking the law?
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