Phnom Penh - Property and Planning in a Contested City

Having a sound planning system for land, soils and water in the future, the Phnom Penh authorities are able to guide and restrict the use of properties and resources in order to protect and promote the public interest. Social housing and open space for recreation should generally be defined as a public purpose. The public purpose should include clear regulations for relocation and expropriation only as ultima ratio instruments, combined with fair and just compensation following the rule of law. Different institutions and regulations for land management and land distribution have to be built up, not only in Phnom Penh municipality, but for the entire territory of Cambodia. Such strategies could consist of: • the rule of law and legally binding planning determinations (zoning ordinances); • different common and communal property rights and tenure securities for urban lands beyond the 100% private property rights solution; • State Land Management with non-transferable public communal property and a State inventory of plots and assets; • leasehold tenure models including cooperatives and associations (économie sociale) for the urban poor and for landless people on State public property, and • the land market, based on land and business valuation methods to identify land rental values and to revise legal sub-decrees setting concession fee rates for businesses and usage charges for natural resources, e.g. fishing in the Mekong River.

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