Member of Phnom Penh’s lake communities who stand to have their lives uprooted by development projects filed complaints yesterday.

Representatives of 260 families who live near Boeung Tamok in Sen Sok district’s Ponhea Pon commune filed a petition with City Hall asking for intervention over 200 hectares of farmland they say is being unjustly claimed by businesswoman Ouy Bovy.

“We live there to do farming … but now [Bovy] has ordered security to move us. They claim we live on the company’s land … our land document was issued by our village and commune chiefs, but now they will not recognise what they signed,” villager Chea Chan, 53, said.

Bovy could not be reached.

In a separate case, 400 villagers from Samraong commune in Por Sen Chey district filed a complaint against private company Lay Ngy over its plans to fill in Boeung Samrong lake, which the residents depend on for their livelihoods. But District Governor Ly Savat told residents that authorities will not allow the company to destroy the lake.