The below is about my experiences in Cambodia when I first went there in 2004. I went back last year, and a lot has changed since then in Phnom Penh- not all of it for the better as far as I could see. The lake is being filled in, to make way for a Korean-run housing development, destroying the community that depends on it. The families who have built up successful small businesses in that area, have been offered an insultingly low amount of compensation. One guesthouse owner told me that before the development went ahead, her business was worth around $150,000. It was her retirement and her family's security. As the lake slowly fills with sand and concrete, her guesthouse, like most other livelihoods in the area, becomes unviable and worthless. She has been offered $5,000 compensation.
Of course the counter-argument is that the project will create more jobs, and boost Cambodia's badly needed economic development. This is no doubt true, but with very little transparency of government, and minimal state protection, it is worrying what foreign-driven investment will do for the average Cambodian- and debatable as to who will see the real benefits. Channel 4's "Dispatches" recently ran a program about forced evictions of people from their homes to make way for other projects in Phnom Penh. It seems clear that development is coming at a high price for many.
