Group of B Kak villagers get land titles + Areng project changes hands again + Impact study on dam

[geovalin]

Khouth Sophak Chakrya

Years of fighting for their land came to an end for 17 families at Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak community yesterday when City Hall delivered them long-awaited land titles.

The handover was part of a vow to resolve the capital’s main land disputes made by Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong when he assumed office last May, and came after officials measured land for 32 families in November.

One of those who received titles yesterday was Soung Samai, a widow in her fifties who has lived at Boeung Kak, in Village 22, since 1993.

While protesting in 2012, Samai was arrested with a number of other women who soon became known as the Boeung Kak 13.

In a high-profile trial, the women were sentenced to two and a half years in prison after a trial that lasted for just three hours.

They were released on appeal after more than one month in Prey Sar prison.

Yesterday, Samai said she felt a mix of delight at receiving a land title and disappointment at being given a parcel of land that was 25 square metres smaller than she had previously owned.

“However, this land certificate is protection for my children,” she said. “They can live safely in the future – it is a shield to prevent possible problems in the future.”

City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said the 17 titles were the second batch given out since the 32 plots were measured. About 50 more parcels at Boeung Kak are left to be marked out, he said.

“The next step is measuring the land for remaining families and giving them land certificates,” he said.

Long Nhean, from Boeung Kak’s Village 24, said he received a land title yesterday but would continue protesting until all in his community had been given what they were owed.

“For solidarity, I will keep supporting peaceful protests until our community gets a complete solution,” he said.

In 2007, the government awarded a 99-year, $79 million contract to Shukaku – a company headed by ruling party senator Lao Meng Khin – to develop Boeung Kak lake.

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Areng project changes hands again

Tue, 4 March 2014

Chhay Channyda and Daniel Pye

Sinohydro Corporation has taken over the concession to build the Stung Cheay Areng dam in Koh Kong province and is preparing for the early stages of construction, according to a company representative and government officials.

Ith Prang, secretary of state at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said yesterday that Sinohydro, which built the Three Gorges Dam in China, had taken over the concession from another Chinese firm, China Guodian Corporation.

“We can’t say when [sinohydro] will start the construction, because we have to study a lot about the environmental impact. There are many stages to go before they start construction,” he said.

But Tou Savuth, governor of Thma Baing district, said yesterday that Sinohydro Corporation representatives, and officials from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy visited the dam site on Friday in preparation for the building of an access road so that heavy machinery could be brought into the site.

“Sinohydro company representatives went down there to meet with district officials and officials from the Ministry of Mines and Energy on Friday,” he said.

“They have two purposes: First was to check the location for building a construction site, and the second was to prepare to construct a road to make it easier to access [the site].”

Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, co-founder of local NGO Mother Nature Cambodia, said that the company had also toured the site yesterday.

Kim Sovan, a Sinohydro representative, did not reply to repeated requests for comment yesterday, while his office said he was away on business.

Correspondence between Qi Wenhua, director of Sinohydro’s legal department, and the NGO International Rivers, obtained by the Post, provides further evidence that the firm is now running the project.

“Our company has recently participated in the preliminary work for this project,” Wenhua wrote earlier this year in response to questions about the Stung Cheay Areng dam.

China Southern Power Grid unveiled the dam project in 2010 but later backed out, and China Guodian Corporation soon took over. Xu Mingjun, a spokesman for Guodian, did not respond to emailed questions yesterday.

Savuth added that the authorities think adequate consultations have been held with villagers who will be affected by the dam.

“Implementing the project, we can’t avoid the impact. But experts have carefully studied the impact on natural resources, wildlife shelters for Siamese crocodiles and the social impacts,” he said.

More than a month after the Post reported that local consulting firm SBK Research and Development started conducting resettlement studies in the Areng Valley, its director yesterday said the studies were complete and had been submitted to the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy and Sinohydro Corporation for review.

Khnhel Bora, SBK’s director, said his firm had been hired by Sinohydro to carry out a number of studies in the area, including consultations with affected communities.

We already submitted the final draft [of the resettlement report] and now they are reviewing it, and so is the Ministry of Mines and Energy,” he said.

Pich Siyun, director of the mines and energy department in Koh Kong, said that the impact assessment was under review and that Sinohydro would soon build the access road.

Savuth insisted that the affected communities had been properly consulted and had given the go-ahead for the construction.

“We have disseminated information about the construction to villagers and, in general, they are OK with it because we told them there will be a study on impact assessment.”

Ven Vorn, a community representative in Chumnap commune, said that Chung ethnic minority villagers have not been not been consulted or even officially told that a hydropower dam is planned for their land.

“We can’t accept to relocate to the new place, because we might get only land to build a house, but not cultivatable land and especially because this is our ancestors’ spirit place.”

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Impact study on dam problem-ridden: WWF

Tue, 4 March 2014

Laignee Barron

The conservation NGO WWF today slammed developers of the Don Sahong Hydropower project for providing “flawed” and scientifically unsound impact assessments.

In an analysis released today, WWF criticised the hydropower project’s Environmental Impact Assessment and Social Impact Assessment, finding both “riddled with problems such as inappropriate research methods”.

Laos submitted the assessments to the Mekong River Commission – the intergovernmental river regulatory body – last September, along with notification of plans to move ahead with the 260-megawatt dam.

“It is the responsibility of the developer to consider all impacts and mitigation measures needed by their project,” WWF-Cambodia country director Chhith Sam Ath told the Post yesterday. “We are very concerned with the poor quality of this impact assessment and are asking Laos and the developers to be responsible and not build until significant and thorough research is conducted.”

An international team of fishery experts compiled the WWF review after scrutinising the dam’s documents for several months, according to Sam Ath. Their findings substantiated Cambodian officials’ concerns about the project, which is located less than two kilometres north of the border with Laos.

“The project documents lack of information and certainty on the proposed fish migration mitigation measures during the dry season and lack trans-boundary assessment on … the downstream impacts,” said Te Navuth, secretary general of the Cambodian National Mekong Committee.

Most problematically, the WWF study claims Malaysian developer Mega First Berhad’s assessment of impacts on fish migration, fisheries and endangered Mekong species like the giant catfish and Irrawaddy dolphin are “purely speculative”.

“When we’re talking about livelihoods and food security, there should not be any data gaps or missing information about impacts that need to be filled in,” Sam Ath said.

The Don Sahong’s developers did not return request for comment yesterday.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/impact-study-dam-problem-ridden-wwf