More than 1,100 square meters of land where the Ministry of Culture’s department of plastic arts and handicraft is situated in Phnom Penh has been privatized by the government, as part of a plan to relocate all outlying departments within the ministry’s compound, according to an official and recently adopted sub-decree.
The sub-decree, signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and dated March 30, said the department of plastic arts and handicraft on Street 63 had been changed from public-state property to private-state property. The sub-decree said a police station measuring 240.3 square meters on Street 111 has also been rendered private-state property. “The deletion of the locations stated in Article 1 from the state property’s inventory is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and Ministry of Economy and Finance,” the sub-decree said.
The move would allow both sites to be sold. San Sam Ang, director of the department of plastic arts and handicraft, said he was unaware of the privatization but noted that investors had contacted him last year about a possible purchase.
“At that time, I repeatedly rejected to speak with them about their purpose and asked them to contact the upper levels of government directly, as I have no power to sell state property,” he said, adding that there was a good chance that his department would be involved in a land swap.
“I’ve heard the construction [on a new building] has been recently completed, so I think my department will be swapped to a new building inside the Ministry of Culture’s compound,” he said, referring further questions on a land swap to Culture Minister Him Chhem, who could not be reached.
Built during the mid-20th century and first owned by Som Sary, the father of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, the building has been an ideal location for art exhibitions since 2000, when the Ministry of Culture moved in.
“If it is sold, we will be really sorry, because our artists will have to go somewhere else,” said Chhim Sothy, who is a well-known Khmer painter.
