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.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be spent replanting the Phnom Tamao forest that was destroyed over the past week, with much of the replanting being led by tycoon Mong Reththy, who says he was uninvolved in the clearing but has been permitted by Prime Minister Hun Sen to undertake the restoration.
Amid mounting uproar over the privatization and destruction of the Phnom Tamao forest, Prime Minister Hun Sen has stepped in to call off the development and replant trees starting Monday.
Chhim Sokha came to Phnom Tamao pagoda on Friday because he had to see if the social media posts he was seeing on Facebook were
Fresh satellite imagery shows rapid destruction of the Phnom Tamao forest this week, an estimated 130 hectares razed between Friday and Wednesday.
Excavators have begun tearing strips through the protected Phnom Tamao forest — recently privatized for development by select tycoons — raising fears among locals and a wildlife sanctuary that shares the land.
The Anti-Corruption Unit is looking into a complaint by an environmental group alleging irregularities in the privatization of forest land at Phnom Tamao in Takeo province.
The potential scope of the destruction of the forest, home to a wildlife rescue center and endangered animals, was not previously disclosed.
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