Wednesday, October 24, 2007

7 land concession agreements cancelled

22 October 2007
By Huy Vannak
Radio Free Asia

Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Son Chhay, a member of the National Assembly (NA) permanent committee, talked on Monday afternoon about pushing the government to seize back economic land concessions from various companies which did not follow up on the investment agreements, and turn back these seized land concessions into national properties.

Son Chhay said: “There are not just 6-7 companies, based on what we know, there are more than 10 companies which obtained land concessions more than the 10,000-hectare limit set by the land law, (these lands exceeding 10,000-hectare) should be taken back, and regardless whether the concession is less than 10,000-hectare, if these concessions do not follow up on their agreements, they should be seized. At the same time, it is necessary to resolve the issue of our people who were victimized by these land concessions, such as the villagers in Sre Ambil and other areas. These (seized concession) lands should be officially turned to poor people urgently.”

According to a statement issued by the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fishery, dated 31 September, the Royal Government of Cambodia plans to seize concession lands from at least 7 companies and turn these lands into state properties. However, up until now, the government has not yet provided information about the results of these seizures.

Regarding the cancellation of the agreement with the companies above, Chan Sarun, the minister of agriculture, declared at the National Assembly, last week that: “Under the reviewing process of the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fishery, and the direction for fruitful investment push, as well as under the efficient use of concession lands, the government has decided to cancel the agreements with 5 companies and the development goal must be corrected for its application action. Activities for 2 other companies have been stopped for further inspection. Until now, 2 companies have been definitively removed.”

Based of the declaration from the ministry of agriculture, the companies which the government decided to cancel their development agreements consist of 4 companies which agreed to set up developments in Kampong Speu province, among these companies are: (1) the Cambovector Co. which had an agreement to develop 26,550-hectare of lands, (2) the Hainan Cambodia Co. with 4,100-hectare, (3) the Chinese Cooperation Co. with 8,000-hectare, and (4) the Kim Weil Co. with 3,200-hectare.

The other 3 companies are: (1) the agricultural development and investment AV Sky which has an agreement to develop 10,000-hectare of lands in Kampong Thom province, (2) the Tay Nam BPM with 7,600-hectare in Mondulkiri, and (3) the Tay Nam K with 7,560-hectare in Kratie province.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulation Son Chay for your effort to protect poor Cambodian people and Cambodian natural asset from exploiting by foreigners.

Among these 7 companies, I can observe that at least there are 3 companies are from Vietnam.

SRP stands for the benefit of nation.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I never heard of taking canceled conceded land that belong to the State and distribute to anyone. It should be re-conceded to those who will developed it.

I am sure Ah Chkout (Son Chhay) loves the government to distribute it to people so that he can buy it from them for peanut and resell it for millions.

Anonymous said...

I agree that the government should cancel all land concessions regime and punish all of these companies for illegally damaging people properties and their interests. These companies should pay to the people who has their properties in the land concession areas for all their distrees and their lost caused by land concessions companies mismanagements. Areak Prey

Anonymous said...

What? if any one is to be paid, it will be to the owner of the land, and that is the State, 8:57.

Anonymous said...

It is depended on the legality of the transaction 9:21 am and parties involved.

Anonymous said...

Possible, but the article did not detailed anything.

Anonymous said...

All of these investors of land concessions have breached their contracts and their commitment to develop their contract lands. Instead of improving the living standard of the people who have their lands and residence in the areas, these investors have used military forces to evict them from their lands and have destroyed their crops and their properties. All residence have faced fears, distress, traumas, lost of income, family disconforts and many other incovience problems. These investors have to repay for all of these damages to the residence. In overseas, these investors may end up in jail. Areak Prey

Anonymous said...

Wrong, the investors did not went beyond the boundary of the land that they invested in. In most case, it is the squatters who is trespassing.