World Bank project tied to forced evictions in Cambodia

Complainants won their case at the Inspection Panel

The World Bank’s Inspection Panel found that the Bank breached its operational policies by failing to properly design and supervise the Cambodia Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), contributing to the forced eviction of some 4,250 families.

On all counts, the World Bank’s Inspection Panel found that the Bank breached its operational policies by failing to properly design and supervise the Cambodia Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP). These failures contributed to the forced eviction of some 4,250 families living around Phnom Penh’s iconic Boeung Kak Lake. Residents were unfairly denied the right to register their land ownership shortly before the government leased the area to a private developer and began a campaign of intimidation and pressure to force families living in the area to leave.

Today, the Bank Board of Executive Directors are meeting to decide what action to take in light of the findings of the Bank’s Inspection Panel that a $28.8 million land titling project in Cambodia flagrantly disregarded Bank policies, leaving more than 20,000 people facing forced eviction from their homes in central Phnom Penh.

The outcome of the Board meeting will signify how the Bank will demonstrate its accountability to some 2,000 families who have already been evicted and forced to accept a fraction of the market values for their property. As the deliberation on Panel Report and Management Response is happening today, the remaining 10,000 people living around the lake are served with a seven-day deadline to accept the compensation on offer or face bulldozers and get nothing.