Thursday, August 12, 2010

Officials to assess prison ‘land grab’

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

PURSAT provincial officials yesterday began measuring property that allegedly belongs to 27 families from two villages in Phnom Kravanh district who say that a new correctional facility has eaten into their farmland.

Last month, villagers said that a new agricultural prison, Correctional Centre 4, had encroached on 78.5 hectares of their farmland.

Hin Sophal, the director of CC4, said yesterday that a sub-committee including the district governor had been tasked with measuring the land to determine how much villagers had lost, but that they did not yet know the results.

He said 190 hectares of land had already been provided as compensation to 60 families affected by the project.

“I really don’t understand why there are still 27 more families [affected],” he said. He said that the sub-committee was scheduled to finish its work by today.

CC4, which opened last year but is in the process of expanding, operates vocational agricultural training and rehabilitation programmes for inmates.

Toch Sambo, Phnom Kravanh district governor, said the villagers accused the prison of annexing their land, but that they had cleared the land and occupied it illegally.

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