Rebuilding Cambodia's troubled railways

South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel

10 October 2012

Watch the video here.

Video: Getting Cambodia's trains back on track (Australia Network News)

Audio: Australia helps to rebuild Cambodian rail (AM)

Map: Cambodia

A project to rebuild Cambodia's decrepit rail-system appears on track for completion, despite delays and difficulties relocating residents.

Through international aid, much of it from Australia, the run-down rail system of the post-Khmer Rouge years is being rebuilt.

The ABC has been told of the $26 million originally allocated through AusAID, just over $14 million remains, and will go towards finishing tracks and building a bridge to help trains carry goods to Cambodia's southern port of Sihanoukville.

The project has been underway since 2010, but has been plagued with delays, mostly because of the need to move 4,000 families from areas near the tracks.

That's been the Cambodian Government's responsibility - but residents have also criticised AusAID and project leader, the Asian Development Bank.

They say they've been given inadequate compensation and have been moved away from their livelihoods.

"My child is at school, level six," one woman says.

"And when he saw me like this, in this difficult situation, he stopped going to school to help me make money."

Some have borrowed to build new houses and are now overloaded with debt and distress.

"Think about this - what compensation?" another woman says

"I have nothing from this - I have nothing."

Thirty families have now made a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

They claim the Australian Government has failed in its international obligations by partly funding the railway project without safeguarding their human rights.

Australian human rights lawyer Natalie Bugalski put the complaint together.

"We're seeing severe, unmanageable indebtedness as a result of inadequate compensation rates, and also moving families away from their livelihood sources," she said.

AusAID will allocate another $1 million to resettle communities, partly to help with debt management.

Meanwhile Australian company Toll, which had suspended its involvement in the project due to delays, is once again operating and has reaffirmed its commitment.

However another bidder has emerged - Rail Services Cambodia Limited - which has submitted a proposal to take over the lease from Toll.

Chinese company SPCC and Malaysian company Hikmat would not only run the trains on the existing lines, but would also build a new track between Phnom Penh and Vietnam at a cost of up to $1 billion.

Neither Toll or the Cambodian Government have been available for comment.