loans

UPDF Loans already given

In its first two years, the UPDF has operated with a small capital of $100,000 drawn mostly from donors, and so far has extended community-loans to two collaborative relocation housing projects, one income generation project and one city-wide decentralized revolving fund loan through the districts.  Here are a few details of those four projects

Akphivat Mean Cheay resettlement housing project

Original Roadside
community

New Housing 
at Mean Cheay

When 129 families in the roadside settlement at Toul Svay Prey found themselves threatened with eviction, to make way for a municipal drainage improvement project, they organised themselves through their savings scheme and negotiated their own planned, voluntary resettlement to new land at Akphivat Mean Cheay.

 The land was chosen by the community, purchased by the Municipality and developed by the UNCHS Project, according to the layout plans the community drew up with young architects at the Urban Resource Centre.  The Khan Chief helped negotiate, UPDF provided low-interest house-building loans, the community built their own houses and SUPF helped turn every step of the process into lessons for communities around the city.  Most of the 120 families borrowed US$ 400, which was just about enough to build the basic brick and timber "core house" the community developed with young architects at the Urban Resource Centre (URC).  Most of the loans were given in the form of building materials, which were purchased and apportioned by a community committee.  Repayment is in ten years at 8% interest per year.  A special women's unit was set up to manage the loan repayments, which are collected door-to-door on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, depending on people's earning pattern, and 20% of the repayment goes into mandatory saving, as a pad against any repayment problems.  Repayment is 96%.

 The Akphivat Mean Cheay relocation project was officially inaugurated on April 20, 2000 and made a strategic first case for the UPDF because of the collaboration it involved.  The project was training for everyone involved - the city's first chance to see how collaboration between the municipal government, the urban poor and support organisations can resolve an eviction conflict in a way which works for everyone, and in which the poor take a central role in planning and implementation.  The Akphivat Mean Cheay relocation represents an eviction resolution formula which all partners could agree to, and through which the needs of all parties could be met:  the city got the road cleared in good time for it's drainage project, and 129 poor families got secure land, houses and infrastructure. 

Tuol Sambo relocation housing project

Incremental House Building Touel Sambo

 

Families at 
Touel Sambo

 

In December 1999, loans were issued to a second group of families being relocated at Toul Sambo, a government resettlement colony 24 kilometres south west of the city.  Toul Sambo is by no means a perfect case, being far from the city and short on community participation of any sort.  Nobody was keen to go there, but when federation members from several communities were evicted, they had little choice but to take up the city's offer of free resettlement plots there, and the UPDF responded to their need with another round of house-building loans.

In the first stage, 37 families took small loans of between $200 and $400 to build houses, at 8% interest over a 5-year repayment period.  As of November, 2000, a total of 123 families, relocated from 7 communities around the city, have taken housing loans from UPDF.  Most families will begin repayments in the end of November 2000, and will repay in small, daily installments of 1,000 Riels (about US$ 0.3), according to systems set up and managed by their savings groups in the community.  Discussions are on now to use further loans to set up fishing businesses and informal transport systems to and from the city.