Feature: Slum dwellers in Cambodian capital want to benefit from development

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital and largest city, has seen rapid development in the last decade — numerous high-rises, large shopping malls and business centres as well as public parks are beautifying this city — in the meantime, slum-dwellers are also on the rise. According to the annual report of the Phnom Penh Municipality, the number of slum-dwellers in Phnom Penh increased by 23 percent last year to over 100,000 people. Slums are defined by the government as informal settlements erected on state public land. As of last year, the city had about 510 slums, said the report. By the end of last year, about 105,770 people had been living in the city’s slums, up 23 percent compared with 85,810 at the start of 2012, it said. Phnom Penh Municipal spokesman Long Dimanche said Friday that currently the city is home to about 1.3 million people. “Slums remain a barrier to the development of the city,” he told Xinhua over telephone, adding that dwellers in some slums would receive on-site development and some would be resettled in order to make way for the development. “We need development in some areas, so we have to relocate people, therefore it is inevitable to affect people,” he said. ” But we do believe that they will cooperate with us for the beauty of our city.” …

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/18/c_132641165.htm