Cambodia’s land grab
101 East looks at whether the country is up for sale.
Cambodia is a country that is seemingly up for sale. Investors are flooding an unregulated property market, driving tens of thousands from their homes.
After the brutality of the Khmer Rouge, and decades of war and upheaval, Cambodia’s economy is booming.
With strong foreign investment and an explosion in tourism, property prices are soaring to record heights.
Just four years ago, prime residential property in the capital Phnom Penh cost US $500 per square metre.
Today, it costs six times that amount.
But as foreign money flows in, human rights groups claim that over 150,000 Cambodians are facing land seizures and forced evictions.
The Cambodian government denies that people are being forcibly evicted from their land, but many areas of Cambodia are without strictly defined land ownership titles, which critics claim is encouraging land grabbing.
Chan Tau Chou reports on whether Cambodia is a country up for sale.
This episode of 101 East aired from Thursday, January 8, 2009.