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| Evictees from a railway site in the capital deliver a petition to the ADB offices yesterday. Photo by Heng Chivoan |
Tuesday, 03 April 2012
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post
Families forced to move by the rehabilitation of the
Phnom Penh stretch of the national railway petitioned the Asian
Development Bank yesterday for help with their livelihoods.
About 50 people gathered outside the ADB’s office to submit a
petition representing more than 160 families relocated to Por Senchey
district’s Trapaing Anchang village.
Addressed to ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda, it asks for his
intervention in creating jobs, providing more compensation and
developing infrastructure at the relocation site.
The complaint adds to the woes of the US$143 million rehabilitation
project that has been beset by delays and cries of inadequate
compensation.
Villager representative Ros Bopha, 33, said they had been relocated
from Tuol Sangke and Kilometre 6 communes in Russei Keo district on
March 6.
Promises from the authorities and the ADB had led villagers to expect
an improvement in living conditions, but this had not happened, she
said.
“Our living conditions are getting worse and worse, so a number of
families have mortgaged their land certificates to build houses and to
survive, as they are still unemployed,” she added.
Sok Lang, 46, said she had lost her job as a porter in a food
warehouse since the relocation site was too far away, and was now in
danger of losing her property due to debt.
Por Senchey district deputy governor Hem Narith, who supervised the
filing of the petition along with 50 policemen, asked representatives to
write to local authorities for help.
Eang Vuthy, Development Watch program manager at Bridges Across
Borders Cambodia, said the NGO had alerted the ADB of Trapaing Anchang’s
inadequacies in 2010, when it was about to be approved as a
resettlement site.
“The people [villagers] were living in the city; then they were
resettled in the countryside 25 kilometres away. They will be losing
jobs and access to public services,” he said.
An ADB spokesperson said by email that it had received the petition
and was reviewing “the issues raised in the complaint”. The government
had selected relocation sites based on criteria agreed on with the ADB,
added the spokesperson.
The ADB’s resettlement plan for the Phnom Penh section, released on
June 2010, states that “no large land was available around the affected
area and the price of land in Phnom Penh urban area was too high around
the affected areas”.
It notes the site is “located at least 15km from the centre of the
city” and was chosen due to the presence of nearby services and the
availability and affordability of land.
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