Government agrees to review of railway evictees
The government has agreed to review its resettlement agreement with families relocated from railways as part of an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded rehabilitation project, but has refused a recommendation to set up a debt-relief scheme for the evictees, according to an action plan released by the ADB last week. The long-awaited Management’s Action Plan follows a report from the ADB’s compliance review panel, released in February, that found major flaws in the bank’s efforts to protect roughly 4,000 families who lost land to a $143 million project to restore Cambodia’s dilapidated railway system. ... According to the plan, the government agreed to review each affected household and improve relocation sites for the families, but said it would not provide some of the recommended compensation, and also rejected a proposal to provide loans to help relieve debt among the evictees. “[T]he Government does not agree to provide compensation for additional income losses from the date of relocation,” as early as 2010, “up to the commencement of income restoration activities,” which began as early as 2011. The government did agree to assess facilities at relocation sites and “improve them to conform to relevant country standards.” The government rejected the ADB’s recommendation that it provide loans to families “on the grounds that debt workout is not a compliance issue,” but has agreed that the ADB can create an alternate scheme with microfinance institutions and NGOs.
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-agrees-to-review-of-railway-evictees-57745/
