10 July 2010

...[S]truggling survivors are reluctantly accepting compensation for about 50 percent of their total property losses.

...Some of the victims are still holding out, saying that the compensation proposals they have been presented with are not enough....

...Sanamxay District Governor Bounhome Phommasane said that the responsibility for compensation lies with the developer.

..."The project developer is going to make direct deposits into their accounts. It won't go through the state," said the governor....

The governor also indicated that the 50 percent figure was only the beginning of the compensation package, and that the survivors would be entitled to more.

...Villagers say that the cleared land is infertile; it is gravelly and nothing can be grown on it.

But the Sanamxay District governor said...that the cleared land was for a 'commercial plantation' not for the victims to farm for themselves.

A private company is now in the process of discussing with the authorities and the victims on what should be planted on that 2,000 hectare cleared land, he added.