The Mondolkiri provincial committee charged with investigating the land dispute between ethnic Phnong villagers and the Wuzhishan LS Group completed its work Wednesday, officials said.
But both sides will have to wait for a final resolution as the provincial report will be sent to a national committee to be decided upon, provincial governor Thou Son said.
The Phnong villagers have alleged the Chinese plantation company, which was granted a concession by the Council of Ministers in August, has been planting pine trees on their farmland and destroying their spirit forests where family gravesites are located.
For the past few weeks, the provincial committee has been working to determine which land belongs to the Phnong villagers and which to Wuzhishan.
Thou Son said villagers from Sen Monorom commune in O’Reang district asked the provincial committee for 3 km of land surrounding their commune, while Dak Dam commune villagers in Sen Monorom district requested 10 km.
While he described the demands from the villagers in Sen Monorom commune as “appropriate,” he said the Dak Dam villagers were requesting too much.
“The villagers in Sen Monorom commune are not so greedy like the people in Dak Dam,” Thou Son said. “The [Dak Dam request] would reach the [provincial] town.”
The committee was also able to determine how much land Wuzhishan has already planted with pine trees, but refused to reveal the amount.
