Boeng Kak Lake Update

Flying into Phnom Penh yesterday, we had an excellent view of the work going on to fill in Boeng Kak Lake as the plane circled to land. Those who have visited Phnom Penh will probably recognise this as one of the most popular backpacker haunts, the water front bars and guest houses offering sunset views over the water as thirsty backpackers enjoy a beer. I didn't have my camera with me unfortunately, but from what I saw the lake looks to be already roughly half filled with a huge tongue of sand protruding into it from the Southern shoreline. Boeng Kak Lake is being completely filled in and developed for commercial and residential purposes by Shukaku Inc and Yunnan - a Chinese company. The google map below makes it pretty clear how profitable this will be, the lake is just outside the CBD and once filled will be prime real estate.


The director of Shukaku is a CPP Senator (Cambodia's ruling party), and the development is expected to lead to the forced eviction of around 4000 families. The papers here run stories weekly which throw up questions about the development - compensation for the evicted residents, the impact on drainage in the area, the transparency (or lack of it) in the business dealings between Shukaku and the government, and the obstruction of public meetings held by the residents to name just a few. Regardless of the veracity of any of these reports, and putting aside the clear economic incentive for the work, the displacement of so many people seems to be inherently wrong in my opinion.