Saturday, 23 February 2008

Phnom Penh residents hold off developers

ABC Radio Australia
22/02/2008

In a stand off with Cambodian authorities, a number of residents in a Phnom Penh suburb are refusing to make way for developers.

A few dozen families are refusing to leave their homes in the suburb of Dey Krahom, despite a multi-million-dollar development scheme.

Cambodia is in the midst of a building boom that has caused land prices to skyrocket across the country.

A Dey Krahom resident, Keo Navann, says those who are refusing to leave just want a fair price for their land.

She says developers are offering some people $US4,300 for their land, but then sell it for $3,000 a square metre.

Their standoff with authorities is just one of many increasingly violent conflicts over land in Cambodia that has seen dozens killed and tens of thousands evicted from their homes over the past few years.

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