The government will move out thousands more families from Angkor Park and has set aside more than 800 hectares of land in three communes neighbouring Run Ta Ek where villagers have already been relocated to.

More than 14,000 families living in the Angkor Archaeological Park will be relocated as the government has earmarked some 896 hectares for resettlement, officials said.

The allocated lands are spanning across three communes – Peak Sneng, Svay Chek and Chup Tatrav in Angkor Thom district, Siem Reap province.

Khan Mang, administrative director of Angkor Thom district office, said yesterday that the government has allocated the 896 hectares of land to develop a resettlement area for another 14,000 families who voluntarily vacate the Angkor Park.

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Mang said that this is the second phase of the resettlement plan after the government had provided 514 hectares of land in Peak Sneng commune for 3,500 families. A few have already left while most of the others are expected to move next month.

“Authorities are building infrastructure in Angkor Thom district as about 3,500 families volunteered to leave the Angkor Park in the first phase,” he said.

“Depending on the situation, the people will come to live in the development area [Peak Sneng commune] next month,” Mang said.

He said that the relocation site is located in the middle of Angkor Thom district where authorities are planning to build infrastructure such as roads, running water system, school, hospital and market. Peak Sneng is approximately 19 km from Angkor Wat.

Since October last year, at least 7,000 families had been relocated to Run Ta Ek development area in Banteay Srey district.

Ly Vannak, director of Siem Reap Provincial Administration, said yesterday that the relocation site in Angkor Thom district is being expanded to accommodate a large number of people squatting in the Angkor Park.

He said that this is a new phase and the relevant authorities are working on a resettlement plan, but have yet to set a specific date to move the people.

“Some of the relocated people from Angkor Park have already received land titles to their land,” Vannak said, referring to those who moved to Run Ta Ek development area.

Long Kosal, spokesman for Apsara National Authority, said relocating the people living in the Angkor Park is the government’s policy because population in the area keeps growing.

He added that the people, who have to leave the Angkor Park, are newcomers who have squatted the area, while those living legally in the Angkor Park are not ordered to relocate.

“The people who come to settle in the Angkor Park after 2004 are considered newcomers who live in the area illegally,” Kosal said. “The people who came to settle in the Angkor Park before 2004 are considered as legal residents.”

However, Kosal could not say how many people have been squatting the Angkor Park.

In August 2022, an inter-ministerial commission led by Chea Sophara, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, launched a large-scale campaign to measure Angkor Park and other areas under Apsara National Authority’s control.

The campaign was to dismantle illegal structures within the Angkor Park and required residents living in the Angkor Park to voluntarily move to the Run Ta Ek Development Area in Banteay Srey district and Peak Sneng Development Area in Angkor Thom district. Each family was offered a 20-metre-by-30 metre plot of land.

The relocation was conducted after UNESCO had warned that Angkor Wat will be delisted from the World Heritage List as a lot of structures were illegally built in the Angkor Park in violation of the UNESCO’s principles.

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