Families Left Worse off After Railway Project
Phnom Penh families being pushed to the city’s outskirts to make way for a $142.6 million railway renovation project funded by Australia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are falling into debt and finding it harder to earn money and access healthcare according to a new study. … The study entitled End of the Line and released yesterday by housing rights organization Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), backs up earlier reports that also conclude that families being evicted to rehabilitate the countries dilapidated railway network are worse off than they were before moving. That such communities are suffering as a result is in breach of the donors’ project safety standards. … Of the more than 4,000 families to be affected by the project nationwide, about 1,200 are slated for eviction to government-run resettlement sites and some have been moved already. … In response to the new study, the ADB and AusAid, the Australian government’s foreign aid arm that has helped fund the project, said they had taken several steps to help evictees since STT surveyed the families. …
