Phnom Penh's Last Lakes (As It Happens - Updated)

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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes

Post by John Bingham »

newkidontheblock wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:53 am Cambodians will complain so hard that Japanese NGOs will build more drainage systems for them. What Justice takes, the Japanese will restore.

WIN WIN

Khmer style.
JICA is not an NGO, it's a Japanese governmental agency.

https://www.jica.go.jp/cambodia/english/index.html
Silence, exile, and cunning.
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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

As Boeng Tamok Is Carved Up, Lake Residents Ask for Land Titles
3 min read
Mech Dara
Fri Oct 9, 2020 6:29 pm

About 30 people gathered in front of Prime Minister HE’s Phnom Penh residence on Thursday seeking his help to secure titles for land on Boeng Tamok, one of Phnom Penh’s “last lakes,” which in recent years has been divvied up for development on reclaimed land.

But a local official on Friday said the villagers had no legitimate claims to the land though some may have lived there for a long time.

Many in Samraong Tboung village in Prek Pnov district’s Samraong commune have asked district authorities to issue them land titles and residence certifications so they can build proper homes, but officials have not done so, said Phorn Sokhum, a village representative.

“We have to come to see Samdech [HE] so that he can help his own children,” she said, using an honorific for the premier. “On this issue, only Samdech can help his children because authorities cannot help us, but they can claim our land.”

Protesters handed a petition to an official from the prime minister’s cabinet, before capital security guards pushed them away from HE’s house to nearby Wat Botum plaza.

Sokhum said villagers wanted Prek Pnov authorities to check whether the land they were claiming was included in government sub-decrees allocating hundreds of hectares of reclaimed lake to state and private development projects.

If the land was already allocated, she said officials should cut out portions and “give it to the people, but they have never come to check.”

Boeng Tamok, a natural lake in the northwest of Phnom Penh that is key for flood protection, is slated to lose more than 500 hectares, or about 16 percent, to in-filling, government sub-decrees show.

Nearly 300 hectares from the lake have been allocated to the Defense Ministry to build a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces long-term strategic command base, with other reclaimed parcels set aside for private developers, government ministries and a municipal park and market.

Sokhum said her community’s land was not near the 20 hectares of the lake set aside for the relocated Daemko market, but villagers were nonetheless entangled in a dispute with the government over land.

“When we have tried to build our houses, authorities come to demolish them many times,” she said. “When we are not together at home, they come to demolish.”

Samraong commune chief Yin Im said on Friday that the land illegitimately claimed by villagers was part of the more than 3,000-hectare lake, and had been already allocated by the government.

He said people were living near the planned location of the new military base on about 300 hectares, which was granted to the Defense Ministry in June. Some people were buying land from others who did not really own it in the first place, he claimed, suggesting illegal land sales.
https://vodenglish.news/as-boeng-tamok- ... nd-titles/
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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

20 More Hectares of Boeng Tamok Lake Allocated to Private Individual
3 min read

Mech Dara
| Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:21 pm
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Land granted by the government on Phnom Penh’s Boeng Tamok lake. Sources: Sub-decrees, Sahmakum Teang Tnaut, Google Maps.

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.

A sub-decree dated April and released this month grants 20 hectares in Prek Pnov district’s Kok Roka commune to a woman named as Sam Cheng.

Coordinates on the sub-decree place the plot near the center of the lake’s southeastern edge, on an area that has seen major landfilling over the past year. The filling has turned the middle of the lake into land, dividing Boeng Tamok into two halves. Much of that central landfill has yet to be allocated to individuals or institutions, according to data from sub-decrees and urban rights NGO Teang Tnaut Sahmakum.
Full article: https://vodenglish.news/20-more-hectare ... ndividual/
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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes

Post by Anchor Moy »

Good lake maps here. Interactive link, where you can see changes from 2018-21 and you can even see who owns what. From an NGO that I had never heard of, a "Cambodian urban NGO", called Sahmakum Teang Tnaut .

Image

Boeung Tamok or Boeung Kobsrov
Total Size​ of the Lake: 3,239.7000 Hectares
Total Cutting Size (selected) : 878.8238 Hectares

Boeung Tamok or Boeung Kobsrov is the largest natural lake in Phnom Penh, located in the northwest along Win-Win Boulevard and constitutes 3239.7 hectares, covering 2 districts, 6 communes, and 25 villages.
Around the lake, there are about 300 families and 1,000 people, most of whom work on the fields or on the lake, fishing, farming or running home-based businesses. In addition to the benefits to humans, Boeung Tamok is also home to many birds and fish.

In 1980, Boeung Tamok was a lowland where people could farm seasonally. After the construction of Tom Nob Kobsrov Dam Road and a drain from Phnom Penh, as well as the excavation of soil, the lake became deeper.

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Link to interactive lake maps: https://teangtnaut.org/pplakes/?lang=en
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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Capital’s Shrinking Lakes Draw Fire
Mao Sopha 09/07/2021 4:13 PM
PHNOM PENH--The president of the Royal Academy of Cambodia has criticized the continued filling in of natural lakes, saying it will have impacts in many ways. Instead, he says they should be used as tourist attractions.

Sok Touch spoke about lake removal in Phnom Penh at a seminar on Chinese language teacher training at the Royal Academy of Cambodia on September 6. He said continuing to fill up natural lakes is nothing to be proud of.

“In the past, filling up the lakes was not a problem because there were many lakes,” Touch said. “But now, there is only one lake left, Tamok Lake, which is being filled again. Does this bring pride? What pride?”

“In the past, there were Boeung Snor Lake, Boeung Tompun Lake and many more. Now we continue to erase the one remaining lake. This has an impact.”

Although some natural areas have been destroyed, Sok Touch says Cambodia still has many appealing natural areas that can be used as tourist destinations. He said lakes are a natural phenomenon that he wants to keep as tourist attractions.

“We like to fill them up with soil. Those who fill them up should not be angry with me. I’m speaking the truth,” he said. “We fill them up with soil too often, not like others. Other countries create a boat ride on the lake. I went to Beijing and South Korea and took a boat trip.”

Lakes can be places for fishing, places to show the fishing culture of local people, an artificial tourist site, for ziplining across the lake or boat tours, Sok Touch suggested. He said lakes can be places to ease a mental or emotional burden or distress.

In late August, the government rejected the proposal of a construction company to buy a 1,000-hectare lake, called Boeng Veal Samnab, in Kandal province. The public applauded the move, urging the government to keep preserving other lakes.

However, government spokesman Phay Siphan said in an interview on September 3 that the condition of each lake is not the same. If any lake is to be kept for public benefit, the government will keep it. But if any lake is to be removed for development, it will be inevitably erased.

Erasing lakes in Phnom Penh can cause flooding and affect the people who have been benefiting from those lakes.

Twenty-six lakes in Phnom Penh have been filled in, of which 16 have vanished and 10 have been partially erased, according to the report released in late 2019 by Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT Cambodia).

Tamok Lake or Kob Srov Lake is considered to be the last vast natural lake in Phnom Penh that civil society organizations are concerned about. The lake is in the northern part of Phnom Penh and has an area of more than 3,2000 hectares. So far, the government has given nearly 1,000 hectares of the lake to state institutions and private companies.

“Phnom Penh is located in a lowland area, so lakes and ponds need to be erased for development to respond to the needs of the whole country,” Sok Eysan, spokesperson of the Cambodian People's Party, said on September 6.
https://cambodianess.com/article/capita ... -draw-fire
Additional reporting by Teng Yalirozy
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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes

Post by Ghostwriter »

They still have lakes ?
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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

More Boeng Tamok Plots Go to Interior Ministry, Military Official’s Wife
2 min read
Khan Leakhena
| Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:28 pm

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.

Government sub-decrees publicly released over the past week show further allocations to one of Phnom Penh’s “last lakes,” which has raised concerns over increased flooding. Environmentalists opposing the filling have previously been arrested.

One sub-decree, dated August 5 and signed by Prime Minister HE, grants 100 hectares in Prek Pnov district’s Ponhea Poan commune to the Interior Ministry. Coordinates on the decree show it is on the eastern side of a road that has been cut right through the middle of the lake.

Another sub-decree dated August 6 allocates two plots — one around 11 hectares and the other 3 hectares — in Kok Roka and Prek Pnov communes to businesswoman Say Sorphea. Sorphea has been named in two previous Boeng Tamok grants.

One of the new plots overlaps with land on the lake that was previously allocated to the Rural Development Ministry. One of her previous plots also overlapped with the ministry’s allocation.

Sorphea is listed as a co-director of Phoeun Phalla Group Development, and VOD has previously reported that she is the wife of Phoeun Phalla, a two-star general who was the deputy head of Brigade 70 as well as an oknha. Phalla was placed under investigation in December over a land dispute in Preah Sihanouk. Earlier this year, he was also battling in court over another land dispute elsewhere in Prek Pnov district. Brigade 70 is an elite unit that formerly included Prime Minister HE’s bodyguards.

Sorphea and Interior Ministry spokesman Phat Sophanit could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
https://vodenglish.news/more-boeng-tamo ... ials-wife/
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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Lake Ta Mok - Going, Going...
(January 16, 2022 at 11:11 pm)
Image
Breaking News, National News: In a breaking news report tonight, Arey News revealed that tycoon Nhek Phorn, called Ta Kao, is busy filling in and converting large surfaces of the northern side of Ta Mok Lake in Phnom Penh, one of the city's "last lakes".

A picture is worth a thousand words, so many thanks to Arey News for the photos.
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More details to come.
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Re: Phnom Penh's Last Lakes (As It Happens - Updated)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

More photos from the Ta Mok Lake "development" :

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Kohsantepheap
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