Opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday talked with families affected by an Asian Development Bank-funded railway rehabilitation project to tell them that he had met with the bank to try to address their situation.

“We have already become lawmakers, so we will use our power to help find justice for you all,” he told a crowd of more than 200 people at Boeung Kak 1 commune.

Rainsy recapped additional compensation procedures agreed to between the ADB and the government in April, including payments that would finally account for miscategorisation of house valuations and inflation.

“What they thought for nearly 10 years is wrong,” he said.

In response, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said that those who had been living close to the railway were residing there illegally and that Rainsy was “wrong”.

Eric Sidgwick, ADB country representative, said the bank did not discuss the project in detail with Rainsy but had noted some of the remedial actions the government had agreed to.