Gov’t tells Phan Imex to clear up disputes

CAMBODIA’S government has given the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction the green light to call on Suy Sophan, owner of the Phan Imex construction company, to resolve a plethora of land conflicts in which her company is embroiled.

According to a letter issued by the Council of Ministers on February 2, Sophan currently has conflicts with 554 families over disputed land in Phnom Penh and Kandal. “The department of land management has halted the registration and transfer of land so the problem does not expand,” the letter reads.

Annexed documents revealed Sophan has been accused of taking over a public road and privately owned land, encroaching on a natural lake and issuing forged land titles, among other incidents.

Reached yesterday, Sophan said she was “very happy” the government is getting involved in the conflicts.

“[The people] said they had land, but they did not have documents,” she said. “The government will solve the problem of these bad people.”

Sophan claims that she legally purchased the disputed land in the early 1990s.

Ministry representative Seng Loth said yesterday that the ministry will start to work on the problem by calling conflicting parties to bring their documents to the disputed areas.

“We don’t know who is wrong and who is right,” Loth said. “We will check all of the documents and survey the land.”