Some 300 villagers who are locked in a land dispute with the Memot Rubber Plantation Co Ltd in Kratie province returned to Phnom Penh on Tuesday to seek a solution from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.

Touch Bol, 43, from Kratie province said around 300 people from Snuol district in the province arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday to seek a resolution date after claiming that provincial authorities were unresponsive to their dispute.

He said the complaint registration process at the ministry was completed on October 4, after which a provincial official told them on Friday to wait three days.

“If they don’t give us a specific date, we will not return to [Kratie]. The Kratie provincial governor did not tell us he had already sent our identification to the ministry. He just told us that if there is no response in the next three days, we can go to Phnom Penh to complain,” he said.

Deputy provincial governor Khan Chamnan said: “I’ve come to Phnom Penh to meet and talk with them. I don’t know about the restrictions. More than 1,600 families from Kampong Cham, Tbong Khmum, Takeo and Kratie have registered their complaints.”

He added, “We hope to check and [settle the matter] next week and then send the complaints to the ministry”.