More than 1,500 families living in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district agreed Friday to resettle on the outskirts of Phnom Penh at the request of a company that claims to own the land they were living on, officials said Thursday.
Commercial real estate firm Sour Srun C Ltd purchased the land behind the Russian embassy, where Tonle Bassac commune’s Village 14 currently sits, from the government in 1992, a company representative said.
“People agreed to leave because they came to live on the land illegally,” said Huy Chour, an assistant to company owner Sour Pheng.
The agreement stipulates that 1,507 families will each receive a 60-square-meter plot in Dangkao district’s Trapeang Krasang commune, Huy Chour said. He said people not entitled to compensation had been claiming a place in the agreement.
“Only a small number of people have made trouble,” he said.
Villager representative Hing Sonvannara said he visited the new location and felt it was an acceptable spot. “We think the place is suitable for us to make a living. We accept that we were living on other people’s land. I think the offer is acceptable,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Douglas Gillison)
