new circular on resolution on temporary settlements on state land

By Chhorng Long Heng
juen 22, 2010
The ministry of land management, urban planning and construction on June 17 mainstreamed the new circular on resolution on temporary settlements on land which has been illegally occupied in the capital, municipal and urban areas.

“This circular is intended to provide resolution for only temporary settlements on state land which has been illegally occupied,” H.E Im Chhun Lim, senior minister and minister of land management, urban planning and construction said in the opening remark at the office of the council of ministers.

“The resolution of land settlements is conducting with proper negotiation and approval from the owners of the land but it was criticized and alleged from some non-governmental organizations and political parties, he said, adding that the allegation is unacceptable. Some people used the word “eviction” for relocation of poor or move to dead place. Currently we have stable and peaceful in the country and we have never evicted poor. “Only Pol Pot regime evicted people from city to rural areas,” he continued. “The land issue is hot news for us, “he said. “This circular will contribute mainly to resolution on temporary settlements, “he said.

“The opportunists of land resettlement should stop their actions and they should not conduct their activities against the development to gain own benefits,” Minister said.

Dr. Menghong Socheat Khamero, secretary general of committee of the land resolution of ministry of land management, urban planning, and construction said that the policy of the government in the interim paper on strategy of land policy framework on September 2002 indicates temporary land occupation rights with certain timeframe for those who settled illegally and squatter settlements which have existed continuously in the capital city and provincial towns and other urban areas.

Dr Khamero added that according to empirical studies, temporary settlements (squatter settlements) which have been illegally built in the capital city, municipal and urban areas developed from several factors such as population growth, repatriation of refugee’s family and families fleeing battlegrounds prior 1998 when the country had not fully achieved peace, land loss caused by natural disasters and other factors, especially rural to urban migration for finding jobs in the later which has experienced rapid industrial, services and urbanization growths.

As a good example and under the financial support from the head of the royal government, the capital city’s authority has mobilized poor communities and some none government organizations to establish a foundation called the “urban poor development fund”. Until May 2010, it has accumulated fund of more than 1.300 million Riels available for providing loans as micro-finance to poor households in order to use for income generation rehabilitation and increase and improve family’s livelihood.

He stresses that the temporary settlement here referred to the term squatter in Khmer equal to the term anarchic settlements built on land which is not belonged to the settlement’s builder. However, the term is considered downgrade to the squatter settlers and in 2003; Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen requested that the name anarchic shall be changed to temporary settlement.
Dr Khamero clearly said that the circular on the resolution on the temporary settlements on land which has been illegally occupied in the capital, municipal and urban areas focused on data collection on actual numbers of temporary settlements, identification and mapping classification of the sites of temporary settlements, households and population census in temporary settlements, solution finding, coordinated discussion in order to identify solution policies, basic public infrastructure and services to support livelihood, and participation of stakeholder in development. “Solution occurred after reaching agreement of accepting and of the solution such as relocation or on –site upgrading or other policy options, the working group shall develop an action plan and to set up the actual timeframe for practice implementation and shall seek to obtain an approval from capital city and provincial state land management committee,” Dr Khamero added.

Ke Chuptema, governor Phnom Penh Municipality said that so far we have experienced about resolution of poor people and temporary settlement in Phnom Penh. “We have good strategy to develop in place for poor in Phnom Penh residents and also provided the fund to help them to improve the living condition,” he maintained. “Development of temporary settlements of Phnom Penh residents has started in large scale since 2003 and the matter of land occurred in 2003 when the land price increased rapidly in city,” he added. He have to eliminate the culture of intervention if not so we will meet difficulties for resolution of land settlement,” he stresses. “So far I have experienced that our local authorities involved with irregular listing of families of land settlement. Officials of sangkats increased the number of families that is obstacle to deal land settlement in Phnom Penh but I ordered them to stay away from the issue if not so they will face to demote the position even the head of commune council,” He noted.

Man Chhoeurn, deputy governor of Phnom Penh municipality said that now we have remaining 200 poor communities in Phnom Penh. And in 2003, we have 560 poor communities .After Phnom Penh used soft policy, the number of poor communities reduced and poor also improve their benefits. We are try to integrate the temporary settlements into simple and good performing people in the communities become as head of villager and members of council of communes,” he noted. We all thanked to our king who helped his own properties to build 80 households for poor in Sen Sok district in Phnom Penh and those houses equipped with solar electricity systems, he added.
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