Villagers Get Land Title After Torching Excavator
A land dispute between a development company and residents in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district boiled over late Friday night, with villagers setting fire to an excavator that they say company staff were using to raze a crematorium on the disputed plot of land. Villagers say they arrived at the site opposite Prek Liep commune’s Khtor pagoda just before midnight to discover two men using an excavator to demolish the crematorium, which lies on land that the government last year transferred from the pagoda to a development company. … CNRP lawmaker-elect Long Botta, who lives in the commune, said that he had arrived at the pagoda at around 11:30 p.m. after hearing rumors that the Eng Kaing Development Company was going to destroy the crematorium under the cover of dark. … Ten minutes after Mr. Rainsy’s departure, Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong and Russei Keo district governor Khlaing Huot arrived and announced that an April 2012 decision to hand the plot of land over to the Eng Kaing Development Company had been rescinded on the direct advice of Prime Minister Hun Sen. … Ang Li Eng, director of Eng Kaing Development Company, said that he rejected the pagoda’s claim on the plot of land, but said that the firm would not fight the Council of Ministers’ decision to take back the land. …
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-get-land-title-after-torching-excavator-47790/
