Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Sesan holdouts demand compensation from flood

Sesan holdouts demand compensation from flood

Floodwaters reach the rooftops of abandoned homes in Srekor village. Villagers there have made demands for compensation.
Floodwaters reach the rooftops of abandoned homes in Srekor village. Villagers there have made demands for compensation. Jade Sacker

Sesan holdouts demand compensation from flood

Sesan dam holdouts from Kbal Romeas and Srekor villages have gone on the offensive, demanding compensation for destroyed rice fields and new homes on their ancestral land.

Both villages were flooded following the inauguration of the China-backed Lower Sesan II Dam in September. While some accepted relocation packages, many refused to leave their ancestral homes, simply moving to the outskirts of town when the villages flooded.

In Kbal Romeas, villagers demanded compensation for their flooded rice fields at $3,000 per hectare, totalling $531,000, and official registration of a community forest.

Yun Lorang, coordinator for the Cambodia Indigenous People’s Association, attended the meeting on Tuesday. Lorang said the villagers estimated 177 hectares of rice fields had been flooded. They also requested whatever remains of the 8,000-hectare forest be officially registered as a community forest.

“The community’s [first] priority is to register the collective forest, while the reparation is the next priority,” Lorang said.

Read more: Sesan dam holdouts rue their losses - but see a fragile victory

Fut Khoeun, a community representative for Srekor village, said 75 families met with the deputy provincial governor on Monday last week, and requested that authorities build them new houses on their ancestral land.

Deputy Governor Duong Pov denied the request, saying authorities already built them new houses at the government relocation site.

“We already built for them [at relocation site], so to go or not is their own choice. But we have a land solution for them, and will not build new homes,” Pov said in an interview on Thursday.

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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide

  • PM urges end to ‘baseless’ international Ream base accusations

    Prime Minister Hun Sen urges an end to “baseless” foreign accusations surrounding the development of the Kingdom’s Ream Naval Base, as the US has consistently suggested that the base is being expanded to accommodate a Chinese military presence. Hun Sen renewed his calls while

  • Almost 9K tourists see equinox sunrise at Angkor Wat

    Nearly 9,000 visitors – including 2,226 international tourists – gathered at Angkor Wat on March 21 to view the spring equinox sunrise, according to a senior official of the Siem Reap provinical tourism department. Ngov Seng Kak, director of the department, said a total of 8,726 people visited Angkor Wat to