Technical teams and professional officers measure and determine the demarcation of land in the Angkor Archaeological Park last week. ANA
A total of 689 families living “illegally” on land in the Angkor Archaeological Park have agreed to move to the Run Ta Ek eco-village and participate in a drawing for plots of land scheduled for August 25.
According to the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, the 689 families – 234 from Taksin Tbong village and 455 from Trapeang Ses village – will join the drawing at Siem Reap Provincial Hall.
From August 18-23, the ministry's technical team surveyed 20,031 plots of land in the Angkor area and found that 12,315 plots had illegal constructions on them while 6,737 plots were empty, for a total of 40,118ha divided between three areas, all of them under the management of the Apsara National Authority (ANA).
The team also made records indicating the owners of buildings and occupiers of land that included 17,322 families.
The ministry said people had volunteered to remove a total of 44 merchant stalls, including 34 stalls selling souvenirs, which were located on the perimeter around Srah Srang and Khang Tbong villages in Siem Reap town's Nokor Thom commune and another 10 stalls in Taksin Tbong and Veal villages in Banteay Srei district's Kokchak commune.
The implementation of land management work in the Angkor area is in accordance with a government decision dated April 18, 2022 regarding the establishment of a working group to address the problem of illegal constructions and land occupation in the park and other areas under the ANA’s jurisdiction.
The land management ministry has sent 68 technical teams with a total of 781 professional officers to cooperate with 352 officials from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and local officials from village to provincial levels to measure and determine the demarcation of land and the identities of illegal land occupants and owners of illegal constructions in the park.
ANA spokesman Long Kosal told The Post on August 24 that the ministry had determined the demarcations of land plots and the identification of land occupants in the park from August 18-23 and there were no incidents such as protests from the local people, who all cooperated fully with the technical team.
"The survey was going smoothly, both the local people and the local authorities were working in cooperation with the surveyors," he said.
He added that the team is continuing its work to measure and determine the demarcation of plots of land and identify the land's occupants in the park.
Cheam Cheab, a resident of Veal village in Kokchak commune, told The Post on August 24 that he had been living in the area since 1990 and that the authorities had already surveyed the location where he lived, but he had not been informed that the authorities intended to dismantle his house.
Though Cheab admitted that living in the area is illegal, he felt he deserved to get some land somewhere in exchange that he can continue to live on legally.
"Let's wait and see … For Trapaeng Ses villagers, we have to draw lots on [August 25]," he said.
Seng Lot, head of the land management ministry’s General Department of Administration, said at an August 24 press conference that the team that went to survey and identify the land occupants in the Angkor area did not charge any fees in order to get the land surveyed as quickly as possible.
He noted that encroachment on land and buildings in the Angkor area is done by both Siem Reap residents and by outsiders from everywhere else in the Kingdom.
