Saing Puy has been waiting a decade for compensation. She represents 77 of the families in Cambodia’s southwestern province of Koh Kong displaced by a US$3.8 billion Chinese megaproject called Dara Sakor.
Back in 2008, Tianjin Union Development Group received a 99-year land concession for 36,000 hectares within Koh Kong’s heavily forested Botum Sakor national park, home to rare flora and fauna, including endangered mammals like the pileated gibbon.
So far, Dara Sakor consists of a luxury resort with a golf course and casino. Future plans include a deep-water port, an international airport (with flights starting next year), an industrial park, power stations and a water-treatment plant.
