Kratie Officials Start Removal Of Homes on Land Concession

Provincial authorities have started to remove the dwellings of more than 130 villagers accused of living illegally on land in Kratie province earmarked as a social concession for poor and landless people, officials and villagers said Sunday.

The authorities will remove all homes in the 4,000-hectare area in Chang Krang and Sambok communes and relocate the villagers, some of whom have lived on the land since 2001, Chet Borei District Governor Suon Nhak said.

“For now we have already finished about 80 percent of the houses,” Mr Nhak said, adding that

100 families had already agreed to move to 20-by-40 meter plots about 1.5 km away.

The authorities had given the families 10 to 15 days to vacate the area or risk having their houses re­moved by force, he said, adding that around five families have re­fused to move, and their homes will be dismantled, confiscated and kept as evidence.

“We may finish all the action by Tuesday,” he added.

Tim Narin, a local coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said the au­thorities started removing the houses on Wednesday by cutting the wooden stilts underneath and lifting the entire structures away in­cluding any property left inside. Some of the villagers were crying when they were told their houses and most of their belongings would be confiscated, she said.

The 4,000 hectares is part of a social land concession program intended to give poor, landless people their own property in Kratie, Kompong Cham and Kompong Thom provinces. GTZ, Germany’s official development agency, is working with the government to implement the concession, and the land was distributed in November via a lottery organized by the government through a $7 million loan from the World Bank.

One 42-year-old villager speaking on condition of anonymity said that the government had almost finished removing all houses but took a break on Sunday. He said most of the villagers had agreed to move but had asked for an extra 10 days in order to build new houses.

“We are not against the government any more. We just ask for another 10 days,” he said.