Rice plots blocked at dam site
In a first step toward clearing villagers from land intended for a planned Koh Kong provincial hydroelectric dam, a Chinese development firm has blocked a road leading to plots where villagers have continued to harvest rice.
Officials from Tianjin Union Development Group, which was awarded a 9,100-hectare economic land concession straddling Koh Kong’s Kiri Sakor and Botum Sakor districts two years ago, placed wooden blocks across the Ta Noun commune road on Sunday, said Phan Eng, 57, who lives in the commune. …
The move came less than two weeks before a September 20 deadline that the government’s Inter-ministerial Resettlement Committee gave more than 100 families living in the area to vacate their land. Villagers in Kiri Sakor and Botum Sakor were notified of the deadline in July. Bulldozing of the area is scheduled to begin October 1.
Families living on the economic land concession were all offered land in an area of Ta Noun commune about 10 kilometres from where they currently live, Ta Noun commune chief Yoeng Vang Vireak said. …
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rice-plots-blocked-dam-site
