Phnom Penh Post - In Brief: Lake residents plead for payment

Residents who say their houses are about to collapse due to the filling in of Boeung Kak lake have made another plea for compensation to City Hall and the company developing the site. After their three houses were almost flooded from sand-pumping last month, the company, Shukaku Inc, through Phnom Penh City Hall, made two offers that residents have now turned down. "I refused US$2,000 because it is not the amount that they used to offer [other residents] to leave Boeung Kak lake," said Sok Khema, 36. City Hall originally offered residents of certain villages around the lake a choice between $8,000 or a house and 2 million riels (US$477. But Sok Khema and Soy Kolab say they were never part of this group and did not receive the same offer.