About 100 families in Chrouy Ampil village, Kbal Koh district organized a protest on February 16 to demand land titles in Koh Meas from the authorities. The residents claimed that they have owned the land in Koh Meas and farmed it for many years, but the government has now leased it to tycoon Khun Sear’s company for 50 years.
According to Sub-Decree No. 210 signed by former Prime Minister Hun Sen on December 17, 2020, the Koh Meas land, measuring 340 hectares and 61 acres, which spreads over three districts – Chbar Ampov District in Phnom Penh, and L’ Vea Em and Kien Svay districts in Kandal Province – had been reclassified as private state land.
The same sub-decree stated that one part of the land was transferred to the Phnom Penh Capital Administration and the other to the Kandal Provincial Administration, as well as the land being leased to Khun Sear Import Export Company for development for 50 years.
Chhim Ry, 67, a resident of Chrouy Ampil Village, Kbal Koh commune, Chbar Ampov District, told CamboJA News that he has been living in the area since 1979. In that time, residents built villages, farmed, and raised their families. Although there was no hard title, he possessed a certificate of ownership of four hectares of land from the local authority.
When he learned that the land in the Koh Meas was being subdivided to a tycoon’s company, Ry was worried about losing his land and house he lived in for years. He claimed that the authority did not inform the villagers about the development.
“We had been happy from the beginning because we have rights. Since the fall of [Pol Pot’s regime], we have obtained land documents. In 2020, they came to measure our land and there was a sub-decree to divide the land for the Khun Sear company, so I am worried that they will actually take our land. We are also worried that we have no rights, so they might measure it without any notice,” Ry said.
He added that the people in Koh Meas are seeking the government’s intervention on three points – to allow the relevant institution to accelerate the issuance of ownership rights as a household, for the Council of Ministers to cancel the sub-decree to subdivide the land to the development company, and allow the people to possess the right to transfer it to their children, grandchildren or future owners like the normal landowners.
“I feel like I have lost faith. The leaders do not think about the people at all. [They] do not tell us anything. The district officials are pushing the people to go west and east, they are hiding information. Over time, the people have lost faith in the authorities,” said Ry.
When contacted, Poeng Ratanak, Deputy Director of the Department of Land Management, Urban Planning, Construction and Cadastre of Phnom Penh, said he has yet to receive any information about the land acquisition in Koh Meas.
Seng Kimly, Deputy Governor of Kien Svay District, Kandal Province, refused to comment on the sub-lease of the land to Khun Sear, stating that he was busy with a meeting.
Another resident, Chum Sam Oeun, 71, from Chroy Ampil 1 village, said the residents want a legal title deed and a clear definition of the land use in the area. He is concerned about the loss of land which has been owned since 1979, asserting that they did not occupy it illegally. Thus, the government must resolve the issue and provide benefits to the residents.
“This land is not an illegally occupied land. There is title deed and sale and purchase letter from the head of Kbal Koh commune. We understand that this [land lease to tycoon] is a violation of human rights and serious injustice because some people have it [land], but we do not,” Sam Oeun said.
He claimed to have received repeated reports that the land in the Koh Meas area has been given to Khun Sear for development and settlement for $5 to $8 per square meter. Owing to that, he requested the government to reconsider converting private land into state public land and transferring it to a private company for management.
NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut’s Right to the City program manager Seang Muoylay told CamboJA News that the designation of private state land as public state land should be widely publicized and involve citizens before decisions are made to lease or develop it.
He said people who own land in the Koh Meas area have title deeds, noting that it was private land. Thus, before any conversion to state land, the state should discuss with citizens who claim that they have the right to own land in accordance with the land law. If the state does not consider this point, it is a violation of land rights, he stressed.
He said the procedure regarding the designation of an area as state land or handing it to tycoons for development has existed before. “It is just that the implementation is not good, the government should announce to citizens [to get their views] whether they agree or disagree. The government should strengthen this point again,” said Muoylay.
In 2023, a sub-decree, signed by Hun Sen on March 6 and published in the Royal Gazette, revealed that 1,247 hectares of coastal waters in Kep province was passed to TP Moral Group, another corporation connected to tycoon Khun Sear, for the development of a new satellite city and “special tourism zone.”
Sear prominent land developer in Cambodia, received the Neak Oknha title in 2008.
In 2021, the Mekong River was filled in by Sear’s 70-hectare satellite city construction at Arey Ksat. Previous residents there told CamboJA News that they were not informed of the project beforehand.
