Boeung Kak
Cambodia · Asia
About
Boeung Kak (Khmer: បឹងកក់) is an area in Khan Toul Kourk, centrally located in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Until around 2010, it was the largest urban lake in Phnom Penh. Residential areas, businesses, restaurants, hotels, embassies and other local businesses surrounded the area of the lake. Phnom Penh railway station formerly sat on its south coast. The lake itself was 90 hectares in area.
In 2007, the Cambodian government made an agreement to lease the land to Shukaku Inc. for 99 years. This agreement resulted in the filling of the lake with sand for the company to build condominiums and other complexes on the land. The change of the lake and the area surrounding the lake had a major social and environmental impact and was the site of a lengthy land title dispute with local residents, with thousands of people eventually being evicted from the area. Several local residents, non-governmental organizations and international actors protested the destruction of Boeung Kak Lake. In 2010, 90 percent of the lake had already been filled with sand. As of 2015, roads and drainage infrastructure have been installed and real estate development is taking place there.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.