"'I feel empty': Cambodians on canal route await fate" 18 July 2024

"I won't challenge the government, but what I want is decent compensation," the wiry 57-year-old told AFP, seated in the shade of the house he shares with eight relatives. "We don't have any official information. We have only heard about it from social media."

Mech is one of thousands of Cambodians living along the projected route of the $1.7 billion Funan Techo canal...

On August 5, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held on the opposite bank, with the government urging temples to ring bells in celebration...Infrastructure projects the world over often involve expropriation, and Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol has promised that "community voices will be heard and their welfare prioritised". Writing in the Nikkei Asia in May, he promised "participatory planning and equitable compensation"...

Rights activists however point to a pattern of expropriation for infrastructure projects that has left people struggling to relocate with minimal compensation. Despite government promises, citizens have little recourse, said Am Sam Ath, operations director at rights group LICADHO.

While the constitution allows legal challenges, "in Cambodia, when it comes to courts, the lawsuits against authorities and the state, the possibility of winning is so minimal"...