Protesters from communities on Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar peninsula embroiled in a land dispute with tycoon Pung Khieu Se’s Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation appealed to the government yesterday to provide affected families with compensation for their lost land.

In a press conference discussing the impacts of OCIC’s land concessions, Chea Sophat, the representative of the six disputant communities, said that a total of 244 families had lived on the 140 hectares of disputed land since 1979.

The compensation plan provided by OCIC was unsatisfactory, and would see villagers retain only 10 per cent of their land, said Sophat, who appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene.

“We would agree to sell the land for $400 per square metre, and as a concession, we would agree to give the state 50 per cent of our land and the company and municipal hall could do whatever they wanted with it,” he said, adding that residents wanted land titles that “include the exact location” of the land.

If demands are not met by Khmer New Year, he added, protesters would raise their asking price and reduce the amount of land they would concede.

Phnom Penh Municipal Deputy Governor Khuong Sreng urged protesters to file a letter to City Hall stating “where they want us to cut the land off”.

“If they want a solution, they have to make the document, not [just] a press conference like this.”

A representative of OCIC, Sok Sil Phanha, said that he could not respond to the demands.