Defiance Greets World Bank’s Funding Freeze
Government officials yesterday dismissed the World Bank’s recently revealed decision to freeze funding for new projects in Cambodia to protest a Phnom Penh real estate project that has forced thousand of families out of their homes. A housing rights group closely following the evictions said it still held out little hope that the funding freeze would do much good for the 4,000 mostly poor families evicted or still facing eviction from the city’s Boeng Kak lake area. “It affects us, but if they want to freeze [funding], they can freeze it,” said CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap, chairman of the National Assembly’s Commission of Economy, Finance, Banking and Audit. “The [World Bank] money contributes to our development, but not having it won’t hurt our development,” Mr Yeap said.
