Tuesday, 30 December 2008

Dey Krahorm residents face eviction deadline

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Children overlook the Dey Krahorm slum, where residents face an eviction deadline Tuesday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda
Monday, 29 December 2008

District authorities order residents to leave their homes by Tuesday or suffer forced removal, while community leaders pledge to resist

RESIDENTS of Dey Krahorm have been slapped with a final eviction notice and warned to leave by Tuesday or face forced removal, with local community leaders pledging to resist the order.

The site is at the centre of a months-long row between residents and the local developer that plans to clear the once heavily-populated site.

The order by district authorities would affect up to 130 mostly poor families who have refused to leave the riverside district.

"The district office would like to inform the remaining people that they will be removed from their houses on December 30," read a statement issued Thursday and signed by Chamkarmon district Governor Lo Yuy.

Developer 7NG has not publicised its plans for the site, located on prime land near the city centre.The "last notice" comes after the Phnom Penh Municipality authorised district officials to take action against Dey Krahorm residents who refuse to vacate, wrote Lo Yuy in the notice.

He said "1,374 families have already moved to a new relocation site, but only 91 have remained". The notice added that 7NG compensated residents with four-metre-by-10-metre houses in Dangkor district's Damnak Trayoeng village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

But angry residents have rejected the compensation, saying the new location is far from Phnom Penh's business centre and has no access to infrastructure.

Chan Vichet, who represents the residents, called the notice "unacceptable" and accused authorities of understating the number that remain. "We still have around 130 families at Dey Krahorm."

He said Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun informed him of the order by phone Wednesday, but that residents would resist expulsion. "We have prepared ourselves against possible eviction," he said.

"The company offered between US$17,000 and $18,000, but we want $50,000 [for new houses]," he said.

Srey Sothea, 7NG company chairman, said Sunday that the eviction order came after thousands of Dey Krahorm residents relocated to Damnak Trayoeng village. He said they would not be given titles to the new land until the resettlement was complete.

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