Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Borei Keila families take compensation

Borei Keila families take compensation

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Holdouts in the long-running Borei Keila land dispute protest in front of the home of developer Suy Sophan yesterday. Hong Menea

Borei Keila families take compensation

Almost 20 Borei Keila families have decided to accept compensation in one of the country’s most prominent and longstanding land disputes.

The dispute originated in 2004 when residents in Borei Keila were asked to move from their homes to make space for a project undertaken by the developer Phanimex. At the time, the company had agreed to build 10 new buildings on site to relocate displaced residents, but only followed through with eight. This left hundreds of families effectively homeless when their houses were destroyed in 2012.

Most of the families have since accepted compensation or relocated, but some families claim the relocation site, in Andong village on the outskirts of the city, is too remote and the compensation offered too low.

One group of 11 families was given a deadline of December 22 to either accept compensation or leave empty-handed. Another 30 families of holdouts were previously determined as ineligible for compensation, though 20 of those families were offered payouts or homes in Andong near the end of December.

A representative of the 30 families, Sok Srey On, yesterday said her family and 15 others begrudgingly accepted compensation on Sunday because they lacked money and a permanent place to stay.

Kung Vireak, another resident who accepted compensation, said that he neither knew how much money he would receive nor when they would have to move out of the dilapidated building in Borei Keila where many of the holdouts are currently squatting. “I’m just waiting for City Hall to call us in to clarify,” he said.

Ngov Nary, a representative of 11 families, said she had learned from the municipality on Tuesday that the family of resident Ouk Somaly, whom she had represented, had quietly accepted compensation, but she did not know how much. Contact information for Somaly could not be obtained yesterday.

Vann Sophath, a coordinator at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights who has worked with Borei Keila residents, said it remained unclear whether Somaly had accepted monetary compensation or relocation to Andong as the agreement was “secretly done” between her and the municipality.

Among the 30 families, he said, three had accepted homes in Andong plus $2,000 each between last Wednesday and Tuesday, while 13 families had accepted $5,000 per family with no relocation. “However, there are some
of the remaining families among the 30 families that are in negotiations with the authority,” he said.

Previously, the municipality had offered 10 of the 30 families relocation in Andong, and 10 monetary compensation of $3,000.

Sophath added that some families had already moved out. “[But] some of them, like Sok Srey On and some other families, just signed the agreement with authority,” he said. “They did not get the money yet.”

Naly Pilorge, deputy advocacy director at the rights organisation Licadho, said every family had to make their own choice. “It’s up to individual families to accept or not so-called ‘compensation’ as they will have to live with their individual decisions,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ngov Nary and three other residents protested in front of Phanimex owner Suy Sophan’s house yesterday to demand between $20,000 and $25,000 for each family instead of the $15,000 in compensation that was offered to them on Monday.

Sophan could not be reached yesterday, but has previously rejected responsibility.

Met Measpheakdey, municipal spokesman, said that City Hall had not changed its offer since Monday. “We do not have any amendments or additions for them, and we are still waiting for their approval,” he said.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Siem Reap airport to close after new one opens

    After the new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) opens in October, the existing complex serving the northwestern province will be “completely closed”, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha. SAI developer Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd (AIAI) last month

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on