That Wasn’t Too Difficult, Was It?
So why did it take more than three years? This morning surveyors, appointed by the Phnom Penh Municipality, started measuring the surface of 32 houses which were not included in the 12,44 Ha promised by Prime Minister Hun Sen to the Boeung Kak lake community way back in August 2011, paving the way to a real land title and the monetary compensation promised just before the 2013 elections.
Reminder: in 2008 a 99-year concession was granted by then Governor Kep Chuktema for an undisclosed sum of money to Lao Meng Khin responsible for the Shukaku Inc. development company which promptly started pumping sand in the lake and evicting more than 3000 families, triggering a fierce resistance by those left over.
More on Boeung Kak lake HERE and HERE
This is a follow-up post on the ‘Quest for Land‘ story which is available as an iApp on iTunes and which reports on land issues in Cambodia since the year 2000 with texts by Robert Carmichael and over 700 photographs.