About 10 villagers from Chroy Changvar district’s Prek Tasek commune stopped workers of a development firm from clearing their land to build a fence demarcating a planned satellite city.

Commune resident Chheng Heak said six workers from the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC), which is developing the project, dug holes on her land and were attempting to install fence posts.

“If there was no assistance from my neighbours, my land would have been fenced off,” she said, adding that last Friday two excavators had similarly attempted to clear the land, but were thwarted by villagers.

Villagers on the peninsula are currently at loggerheads with City Hall, which has given them until mid-November to give up 90 percent of their land to the project or accept $15 per square metre as compensation for leaving.

OCIC project manager Touch Samnang said the group was continuing their work and that the ongoing dispute was between the villagers and local authorities. “We will keep working and building a road and drainage system as per the plan,” he said.

City Hall spokesman Mean Chanyada said he was unaware of yesterday’s events.