Land Dispute

Village representatives from Prek Sleng commune in Kandal province’s Kandal Stung district will attend a meeting at the district governor’s office Monday to discuss a 200-hectare plot of disputed land that has been awarded to the Heng Development Company, villagers said. Oeung Chanry, a village representative, said Sunday she had received a letter from district authorities inviting her to an 8:30am meeting after she and 17 other villagers delivered a complaint to Prime Minister Hun Sen Friday. “We filed a complaint to the prime minister in Phnom Penh because the authorities here do not care about us,” she said. On April 4, Heng Development Company dispatched bulldozers to the disputed land, a move that spurred some 400 villagers to block National Road 2 in protest. Eleven villagers were arrested during the demonstration. Lim Leang Se, the premier’s deputy chief of cabinet, said that Kandal Stung district Governor Choie Sobin would explain the situation to the villagers. “Hun Sen has recognised that Heng Development Company has ownership of that land because they have land titles,” he said.