Land Titling Program Favors Wealthy Businessman

In Washington today, attendees of the World Bank’s Annual Conference on Land and Poverty will hear a flattering account of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ambitious project to furnish nearly half a million Cambodian families with new private land titles just in time for July’s national elections. But in a small village in rural Kompong Chhnang province, local farmers are among a growing list of communities worried that the project is cheating them of their land rights. According to the villagers and officials in Rolea Ba’ier district, two separate survey teams showed up in Kraing Leav village earlier this month only days apart to measure the same 45 hectares of rice paddy being tended by 76 families. The first team of provincial cadastral officials were there on April 2 and 3 to measure land on behalf of the families. The next day, another team of cadastral officials showed up with student volunteers, who are part of the prime minister’s titling project, to measure the land on behalf of Moul Engly, a local businessman that villagers accuse of trying to steal their land. Villagers say the student volunteers had measured the land for Mr. Engly despite a decision by Supreme Court awarding the land to the villagers in November. Provincial counsellor Dunoung Chantra… said the student volunteers should not have come to measure the land for Mr. Engly. “Local authorities should not have done this by working with the student volunteers to measure the land in favour of the businessman since the villagers do have legal right to the land,” he said. Mr. Chantra said he would take up the villagers’ case with the government at national level. …

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