DEY KRAHORM: Evicted residents resettle

Written by Chhay Channyda

Wednesday, 11 March 2009 Phnom Penh Post

DEY KRAHORM An overwhelming majority of families from the recently bulldozed Dey Krahorm community HAS accepted housing at a relocation site in Damnak Trayoeng village, located 16 kilometres outside the capital, a city official said Tuesday. Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun said "nearly 100 percent" of the families who lived in Dey Krahorm in central Phnom Penh had moved to the relocation site. Even Chan Vichet, who served as a representative of residents who were forcibly evicted on January 24, said he had accepted housing in Damnak Trayoeng on February 27. Chan Vichet said he knew of six families who had not taken housing in Damnak Trayoeng and who were asking for US$20,000 in monetary compensation, the final offer made by 7NG, the private company that now owns the land, in the weeks before the eviction was carried out. At the time of the eviction, the city estimated that 90 families remained in the community, while Chan Vichet placed that number at 150. Mann Chhoeun said Tuesday that 7NG would no longer honour the $20,000 compensation offer.