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Rows of houses and interweaving roads built as part of the World Bank's Lased II land redistribution project in Kampong Thom province's Doung commune on November 29, 2022. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

World Bank Land Giveaway Marred by Problems

On one side of Kampong Thom province, the government ended a community forest program for a World Bank project village. On the other side, farmers had land taken away to make way for an earlier version of the project.

The Phnom Tamao park now has a few water features peppered across the deforested land. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

Cleared Phnom Tamao Forest Sculpted Into Park

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit has left the cleared area of Phnom Tamao forest after occupying it for about a month starting in August, seeming to transform a piece of the protected forest into an apparent park after a land giveaway controversy embroiled the area just three months ago.