About 160 families gathered at the offices of real estate developer ING Holdings yesterday demanding to know how they would be affected by a huge satellite city development south of Phnom Penh.

ING City is set to cover 2,572 hectares of land reclaimed from the Boeung Tompun and Boeung Choeung Ek wetlands.

However the villagers, from Preak Takong 1 village on the northern edge of the wetlands in Meanchey District and Kva village on the northwestern edge in Dangkor district, say they have been left in the dark.

Ros Rorn, 53, from Preak Takong 1 village, said she had heard her village would be demolished to make way for a reservoir.

“We will have no place to live,” Rorn said. “We live here and we have a comfortable life because there are schools, hospitals and markets nearby.”

Long Heurn, Preak Takong 1 village chief, said about 100 families in his village would be affected by the development.

“I want my villagers to get compensated based on the market price,” he said.

Long Net, deputy chief of Meanchey district, said the development would affect some areas in Meanchey and Dangkor, though he could not say where.

He said the concerned villagers should submit documents showing the location of their land so the authorities could determine whether they would be affected by the development or not.

By yesterday evening, 180 villagers had submitted documents.