Govt announces that thousands of hectares will be made available to military families

MORE than 2,074 hectares of land near the

Kingdom's border with Thailand in Preah Vihear province will be

designated as a social land concession for 903 military families, a

senior government official has said.

Minister of Land Management Im Chhun Lim officially announced last week

the handover of the land, 20 kilometres from the Preah Vihear border,

to soldiers from Brigade 12 in Kantout and Choam Ksan communes.

The handover follows a recent order made by Prime Minister Hun Sen to

give land to military families near their posts and along the Thai

border in a bid to bolster national security.

Provincial officials are currently apportioning land to give to

families, Long Sovann, deputy governor of Preah Vihear province, said

Wednesday.

"We have set aside land for military families, but we are still working

at dividing it into blocks to give to each family," Long Sovann said.

We have set aside land ... we are still working at dividing it into blocks.

Tan Setha, chief of Choam Ksan district's Forestry

Administration, said Wednesday that military families have been

requesting land in the area from provincial authorities for years, but

only got approval when the prime minister ordered that soldiers and

their families be based permanently along the border.

"If the military families live and farm on this land, it will be good

for them, and it will be good for future development, but we are

worried they will sell the land and still have no property to live on,"

Tan Setha said.

Apportioning land

San Vanna, deputy governor of Oddar Meanchey province, said that the

province has created a committee to apportion land for military

families and landless people along the Thai border.

"The first step the committee is taking is to decide where to locate

the families," San Vanna said. "We have land for the families, but we

are determining village boundary first before giving it to them."

Chea Mon, commander of Military Region 4, said that his family has not

yet received any land because provincial officials are still

determining which land to give them.