Divvying of MP’s land begins

JUST three days after the government decided to reclaim nearly 3,000 hectares of land from Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Lok Hour, the Ministry of Land Management yesterday began measuring land in Kandal province.

According to Kien Svay District Governor U Chheang, a technical team started work in Banteay Dek, Samrong Thom and Koki Thom communes.

“They will continue [today]. Some land took longer because there is still conflict,” he said, adding that the 3,000 hectares would be divvied up among 14 villages.

The ministry on Friday announced on its website the creation of 21 working groups to measure the land. Those groups come from the cen- tral land management department at the ministry as well as the provincial departments of land management in Phnom Penh, Kandal, Savy Rieng and Prey Veng provinces.

Hem Sopheap, representative of the 856 families that stand in conflict with Hour, said the people would not receive the same amount of land they had lost. “They will get less than that. For my community, we still need to go to the court on [ January 11],” she said.

In a move to combat alleged land-grabbing, the government had blacklisted Hour in April last year, barring him from buying, selling or transferring any land.

Neither Kandal Provincial Governor Mao Phirun nor ministry spokesman Seng Loth could be reached for comment. Hour was also unavailable.