A majority of the families living on a plot of land in Kampot City that authorities want to use to widen a road leading to the sea Thursday accepted a compensation package from the local government, a city official said.
Kampot City governor Neak Sovannary said 15 of the 21 families living on the land that the state needed to expand the road in Andoung Khmer commune accepted a deal offered by city and provincial authorities following negotiations this week.
“The authorities have agreed to provide them with $3,000 per family because they are living next to the road,” Mr. Sovannary said, adding that the six families who rejected the offer faced eviction.
“We will take action according to legal procedures against those six families who did not sign the document” to accept compensation,” he said.
Mr. Sovannary said city authorities first told the families to move in 2010, but the villagers initially refused to discuss compensation. On Wednesday, the 15 families asked for $6,000 each in exchange for their land, while the six demanded $10,000.
The expansion of the road to the ocean is a key part of a plan to draw visitors to Kampot province ahead of a sea festival scheduled for December, the city governor said.
“We need to build beautiful infrastructure to attract tourists to our province.”
Mam Kesey, provincial monitor for rights group Licadho, said the compensation deal offered to the villagers was not acceptable because it was not tailored to each family’s living situation.
“Some of the villagers who accepted the $3,000 compensation have only small plots of land. Some of their houses are only made of bamboo and look like cottages,” he said. “I think this compensation is an injustice for people who have a lot of land and big houses.”
Lo Hann, 50, whose family was among the six to refuse compensation, said $3,000 was not enough.
“That compensation is too small. How can I take this money to buy a new house or land?” she said. “I vow to die on my land and in my house if the authorities use bulldozers to force us out.”
