World Bank says land titling project failures caused “grave harm”

Mar 9, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh – The World Bank said Wednesday that a land titling programme it funded in Cambodia has failed thousands of people living in central Phnom Penh.

The bank’s mea culpa follows the government’s forced eviction of thousands of people from the area around Boeung Kak lake in the capital over the past two years.

The bank said the evictions had caused ‘grave harm’ to residents.

Thousands more residents are under imminent threat of being evicted with little or no compensation in a controversial development deal of the 133-hectare site that is linked to a prominent ruling party politician.

Few if any of Boeung Kak’s residents have been able to get land title documents from the local authorities, despite legal experts saying that many are entitled to them.

The World Bank assessment was carried out by an independent inspection panel, which examined the Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP) that began in 2002 and received 24 million dollars from the organization.

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