The Phnom Penh Municipal Hall on Monday gave 30 days to those involved in the Boeung Choeung Ek land dispute to cooperate with the authorities in measuring and demarcating the boundaries on state-owned land allocated for a satellite city development in the south of Phnom Penh.

In its announcement, the municipal hall said a working group formed by the Council of Ministers had been measuring and demarcating the boundaries on the 190ha plot which sits on reclaimed land from the Boeung Choeung Ek wetland since June 10.

It said the measurement progress “neared completion”. However, “some people [who occupied some parts of the disputed land] have not yet cooperated.

“For this reason, the working group had decided to extend the deadline to August 15 for the disputants to cooperate,” the municipal hall wrote.

It also urged the disputants to hurry, saying that “the working group would not measure and take any requests once the ultimatum expires”.

Phnom Penh Municipal Hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey declined to comment on Monday, saying the announcement was “meaningful enough”.

Recently, the government decided to annul five land titles given to Oknha Ing Bun Hoaw.

In its letter dated May 21 and made public recently, the Council of Ministers said Bun Hoaw’s company, ING Holdings, had failed to develop infrastructure along Boeung Choeung Ek lake – or what is left of it – and erect a satellite city in Phnom Penh and Kandal province’s Takhmao town as instructed by the government.

Ing Bun Hoaw and his representatives could not be reached for comments on Monday.

Ho Sokheng, one of the disputants who resides in Doeum Mean commune’s Steung Chrov village in Takhmao town, said on Monday that his community of some 350 families had been locked in a territorial row with ING Holdings.

“The annulment [of ING Holding company’s land tittles] apparently didn’t affect me. The government did not annul my land and the land belonging to the others [within my community], ” Sokheng said.

Regarding the measurement and demarcation on 190ha land by a working group, Sokheang claimed he had not seen any officials performing the task in his area.