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. …
