Preah Vihear land primed for plantation concessions
The government has reclassified 23,182 hectares of state land in Preah Vihear province for private development by three agro-industry firms, paving the way for them to secure economic land concessions (ELCs). Reclassification of state public land to state private land is a key step toward establishing ELCs, concessions that Prime Minister Hun Sen declared a temporary moratorium in May amidst mounting criticism that the country was being rapidly carved up among businessmen. But a loophole in that moratorium, criticised by rights groups as self-defeating and deliberately vague, allows the government to grant ELCs that had previously been under negotiation. ... Numerous ELCs have been granted since the premier announced the moratorium, and Am Sam Ath, a senior investigator at the rights group Licadho, said this was yet another example of the insincerity of the premier’s actions. ...
