Official says resettlement sites are good for development
Widely different interpretations of the government’s land policy were voiced at a conference on Land Security and Housing Rights on Thursday in Phnom Penh, with civil servants defending mass relocations, while rural evictees spoke of being forced into poverty due to loss of their land. … On the issue of land concessions and the relocation of rural communities, Sokehng Norin, chief of the national parks department at the Environment Ministry, said moving villagers was a development strategy of the government. … “It creates jobs” he said, adding that relocated communities had better assess to schools and health care. However, Tang Yeng, a community representative from Koh Kong province’s of Botum Sakor National Park- where families have been relocated to make way for a 3.8 billion Chinese Mega Tourism project said removal has been a disaster for the villagers’ likelihoods and health. “The soil is not good… and health issues such as, malaria and diarrhea are big problems.”… The Interior Ministry had received 100 complaints related to land disputes this year, which was a decrease on the number of complaints logged last year. However he did not reveal how many disputes were logged in 2011.
