Prime Minister Hun Sen granted the Interior Ministry permission to sell 100 hectares of Boeng Tamok lake that it was granted earlier this year so the ministry can fund a reconstruction of its existing office building.
The documents, released on Monday and all signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, are dated between August 4 and September 2 and continue the recent flurry of land privatization across the country
A big piece of a so far untouched area in the middle of Boeng Tamok lake has been granted to the Interior Ministry, while businesswoman Say Sorphea — understood to be the wife of a high-ranking Brigade 70 military official — has received a further two plots on the lake.
Another 4.6 hectares of Boeng Tamok was given to a private citizen who previously received land about six months before.
A further 20 hectares of Boeng Tamok, one of Phnom Penh’s “last lakes,” is being granted to a private individual, with mapping coordinates appearing to show the plot is on an area that is already being made landfill.
The ministry overseeing salaries and promotions for the country’s more than 200,000 public servants is growing and needs more space, its spokesperson said, as the government granted 40,000 square meters of Boeng Tamok lake to build a new headquarters.
About 40 Boeng Tamok residents on Sunday staged an appeal to be granted land titles for their houses on the edge of the Phnom Penh lake, saying they are nervous following evictions nearby and are only asking for 5 hectares for 300 families.
Phnom Penh is expanding, and it is no different from many countries in using landfill to meet the demands of development, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday as he rejected criticism over transferring public lake areas to developers.
Two state land-swap deals involving a notorious tycoon and the allocation of 30 hectares of Boeng Tamok lake land for infilling were invalidated by a Council of Ministers order dated Monday.
The government is siphoning another 22 hectares of reclaimed land from Boeng Tamok lake, this time for military police families and a new branch of a public hospital, raising the known total area allocated from the natural lake to over 900 hectares.
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