Construction begins at bloody eviction site

More than four years after the violent forced eviction of about 800 families from Dey Krahorm in the capital’s high-rent Tonle Bassac commune, small-scale construction is finally beginning on the site. In the past month, the skeletons of a future barbecue restaurant and a beer garden have risen up on the eastern side of Dey Krahorm, while on the site’s south side, on a plot sold to another company, foundations are being laid for a Sou Sou Suki Soup restaurant. But this is not much to show given the time that has passed since the heavily criticised eviction of the 3.7-hectare site’s residents in January 2009 to make way for real estate company 7NG, which once promised large-scale development of the site, activists said. … Staff in 7NG’s office on the eviction site said yesterday they believed the land next to the office had been sold to other companies but could not say when, or for how much. … Phnom Penh Municipality spokesman Long Dimanche said he was unsure of the land’s status, adding that the city required the company to submit a master plan for the site’s development but 7NG had not submitted any such plan. Dey Krahorm community member Chan Vichet said yesterday he was not surprised the land where he used to live had been divided and rented to small businesses, despite 7NG’s claims before the eviction that it would build a 52-storey, income- and investment-generating commercial building. …

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764726/National/construction-begins-at-bloody-eviction-site.html