News
Activist swaps protests for rural life
The families who once lived around Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh have been protesting since 2007. Thousands have been relocated over the past decade after the lake was filled in to make way for a high-end housing development by Shukaku Inc. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5096166/activist-swaps-protests-rural-life/
Developers ink master plan for central business district
Australian-listed property developer Kingsland Global Ltd has entered into a master cooperation agreement with a subsidiary of local developer Shukaku Inc to develop 10,000 square metres of prime real estate in Phnom Penh’s “central business district”, it announced Friday in a filing to the ASX. ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/developers-ink-master-plan-central-business-district
Boeung Kak land talks fail
Following negotiations yesterday with Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong, representatives of 12 Boeung Kak community families complained that City Hall was not offering them nearly enough land to replace what had previously been taken from them. During yesterday’s meeting, City Hall offered to give the ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/boeung-kak-land-talks-fail
Firm’s Split From Boeng Kak Project Confirmed
The Chinese firm that was financially backing an ambitious project to develop Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood has pulled out, Chinese Embassy and company officials have confirmed, and no other investor appears to have taken its place. That makes the Erdos Hongjun Investment Corporation at least ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/firms-split-from-boeng-kak-project-confirmed-64318/
Boeng Kak families ask ACU to probe Senator’s land sale
Residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood lodged a formal complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Monday, asking it to investigate 12 current and former government officials and Senator Lao Meng Khin over the senator’s plans to sell land they say was stolen from ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kak-families-ask-acu-to-probe-senators-land-sale-63453/
Hun Sen’s sister tied to company in Boeng Kak land sale
A development firm owned by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and accused of illegally evicting thousands of families from central Phnom Penh recently sold a small piece of its project area for $14.9 million to a company with ties to one of Prime Minister Hun ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-sister-tied-to-company-in-boeng-kak-land-sale-62344/
Power couple linked to Sinohydro project
Two of the country’s most powerful and politically connected business owners are on the board of governors of the company thought to have brokered a controversial deal between the world’s largest hydropower developer and the Cambodian government, documents obtained by the Post show. Cambodian People’s Party ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/power-couple-linked-sinohydro-project
Land activists ask to speed up land dispute solution
About 50 Borei Keila and Boeung Kok residents held a protest on Wednesday in front of Phnom Penh City Hall, asking it to speed up land solution. The protesters held banners showing picture of developer Shukaku Inc pumping sand to fill up the Boeung Kok, ...
The Cambodia Herald
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YWI1YzYxY2ZiNDA
Governor Pledges to Help Evicted Families
Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong on Friday visited evicted residents of the Borei Keila community, now living in a slum atop piles of garbage near their former homes, and promised, yet again, to build proper housing for the 150 families who refuse to move from ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/governor-pledges-to-help-evicted-families-50888/
City Says It Will Provide Land Titles to 33 Boeng Kak Families
Phnom Penh Municipality will provide land titles to 33 more families living in the city’s Boeng Kak neighborhood, a municipal official said Tuesday, roughly a third of those still seeking property rights in the area that has seen some 3,000 forced evictions. “First, we will solve ...
Khy Sovuthy and Ben Woods
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-says-it-will-provide-land-titles-to-33-boeng-kak-families-45710/
Tep Vanny—From Boeng Kak Protester to Globe-Trotting Advocate
On the morning of September 23, anti-eviction champion Tep Vanny was grappling with a legion of security guards blocking the entrance of the Daun Penh district offices while fellow protesters dismantled a razor-wire barricade nearby. The next day, she was on a plane to Washington ...
Mech Dara and Ben Woods
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tep-vanny-from-boeng-kak-protests-to-globe-trotting-advocate-44583/
Phnom Penh Governor Leaves Behind Mixed Legacy
During his speech last week at the swearing-in ceremony of Phnom Penh’s new governor, Pa Socheatvong, Interior Minister Sar Kheng noted that managing Cambodia’s capital is by no means an easy task. While critics of [former Phnom Penh governor] Mr. [Kep] Chuktema note his failure ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-governor-leaves-behind-mixed-legacy-22697/
Six Cambodians Injured in Capital Land Clash
At least six people were seriously injured Wednesday in clashes between about 100 villagers demanding land compensation and 300 security personnel in front of the home of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, activists said. According to villager representative Tep Vanny, the evictees from Phnom Penh’s Boeung ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/clash-03132013184900.html
Boeung Kak Evictees Ask City Hall For Better Compensation
About 100 women forcibly evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak neighbourhood protested outside City Hall yesterday asking for upgrades to the compensation they accepted under duress to give up their homes. The women said they were representing 739 of the more than 3,000 families forced out ...
Finance Minister Lauds Boeng Kak's Tax Bill
The Finance Ministry has sent a letter to well-known businesswoman Choeung Sopheap thanking her for paying her taxes on the highly controversial filling in of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake, and holding her firm up as an example of corporate professionalism. Though Shukaku Inc., which is ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/finance-minister-lauds-boeng-kaks-tax-bill-11863/
Cambodian poor pushed out of their homes by developers
A mother of four, with the youngest on her hip, said she was not impressed by the palatial government buildings where Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Council of Ministers have their offices. Her own home is a wood-and-tin shack now partially buried under the ...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Cambodian-poor-pushed-out-of-their-homes-by-develo-30200729.html
Land Is Life, and It’s Slipping Away
Nean Narin, a humble man and father of three children, says his family is going hungry. Narin lives in the village of Boeung Kak, situated on the edge of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. For years, he and other villagers relied on the Boeung Kak Lake ...
Senator's Wife Showers Police, Military With New Year Cash
At 9 a.m. yesterday, more than 200 soldiers, police and military police officers were gathered outside a large mansion on Street 55 in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district. All were waiting for their promised “ang pao” – red envelopes containing cash usually handed out during ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/senators-wife-showers-police-military-with-new-year-cash-9831/
Stirrings from B Kak developer
After months of inactivity that has fueled questions about the company’s future, Boeung Kak lake developer Shukaku Inc has launched a recruitment drive, calling for at least half a dozen architects, engineers and other employees. When contacted yesterday, Sok Heng Ly, an administrative employee listed in the ...
Anniversary Marked With Fiery Demonstration
Resident of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood burned straw effigies symbolizing corrupt government officials yesterday to make the one-year anniversary of demolition of eight homes at the contest site. Roughly 100 protesters gathered at the site of the demolitions and set fire to eight scarecrow-like effigies ...
Cambodia carve-up under the spotlight
There were scenes of jubilation in Cambodia’s capital last month when a group of 13 imprisoned women – including a 72-year-old grandmother – was set free by an appeal court. The women were arrested in May during peaceful demonstrations against the forced eviction of thousands ...
City Defends Boeng Kak Project, Attacks Critics
The filling of Boeng Kak lake and the eviction of thousands of residents was necessary to root out the “prostitutes and terrorists” that were drawn to the area’s once-popular tourist zone, the Phnom Penh Municipality said in a statement yesterday. In a statement posted to its ...
Released Protester Urges for Release of the Boeng Kak 13
Sao Saroeun, a Phnom Penh resident arrested last month for demonstrating against CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin’s Boeng Kak real estate project and released on bail last week, urged the courts to release 13 women still being detained at Prey Sar prison yesterday. The 13 women were ...
Municipal Court Sentences 13 Boeng Kak Protesters to Jail
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged and then immediately sentenced 13 women embroiled in a long-running land dispute with CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin’s private company to two-and-a-half years in jail. The women, which included Heng Mom and Tep Vanny, were among the leaders of ...