Koh Kong pagodas threatened

Prak Thon says he will give up everything to stop a Chinese company from destroying his pagoda in Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district. “I’ll allow them to demolish my house, but I will not allow them to destroy the pagoda. I’m satisfied if I die, because it is my religion,” the villager said over the weekend. The pagoda, which he said villagers built in Koh Sdech commune’s Prek Smach village in 1993, is threatened by a US$3.8 billion development by Union Development Co Ltd on two concessions that amount to more than 45,000 hectares in Botum Sakor and Kiri Sakor districts. The departure of some 700 volunteer students on Friday, sent by Prime Minister Hun Sen to measure land across the country for villagers affected by land disputes, has not alleviated the fears of Thon and his neighbours that they will soon be evicted because of this project. ...  

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