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Article

17 Feb 2018

Author:
Phak Seangly & Andrew Nachemson, The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia: Villagers refusing relocation for Sesan II Dam see their homes, schools, pagodas, & farm lands flooded

"'Our pain is like an ocean'", 16 February 2017

“Our entire village inundated, but no one leaves there. We were born here, so we agree to die here,” sang Set Nhal, an elderly resident of Kbal Romeas….

Kbal Romeas and nearby Srekor were flooded late last year after the Lower Sesan II Dam officially came online….

…Members of the communities were cajoled into leaving their homes to make way for the newest mega dam on a Mekong River tributary.

Health centres were closed, state teachers were fired and monks were ordered to relocate. Holdouts were promised new land at resettlement sites from the state and monetary compensation from the Hydro Power Lower Sesan 2 Co Ltd, a joint venture primarily owned by powerful businessman Kith Meng’s Royal Group and Chinese state-owned Hydrolancang International Energy Co Ltd.

Still, 258 ethnic Phnong villagers have refused to leave – and instead have resettled on farmland and hills on the outskirts of the village.

Provincial Governor Duong Pov visited…promising…they would be allowed to remain at their rice fields permanently.

But when the villagers demanded that he sign a contract committing to the pledge, he danced around their request.

One of the most common reasons given for the refusal to relocate is a fear of abandoning the village’s burial ground.

…Nhal Seiya…and her family refused to relocate because they believed there would not be enough space at the relocation site to raise livestock.

“...Indigenous people live by feeding animals in a large forest, but at the relocation site it is difficult because the land and space is smaller,” (Thun) Sarin said.