NEWS on
CAMBODIA
Up-Grading Communities
NEXT STEP:
SECURE LAND TENURE
After three years of community upgrading :
The lanes are being paved and drained, trees planted, houses improved and communities strengthened, but the land tenure status of most of the city's poor settlements remains as precarious as ever . . .
As Phnom Penh's "100 slums upgrading policy" enters its fourth year, the city sees more and more dramatic "befores" and "afters" . . .
Sadly, upgrading projects alone do not bring tenure security. The recent wave of evictions in Phnom Penh has been a potent reminder that there is still a lot of work to do to ensure that the poor do not continue to be pushed out of the city they are a part of and contribute so much to.
BEFORE: The Rothha Meancheay Community before upgrading, where people had to wade through raw sewage on their way home.
AFTER : And here's Rothha Meancheay Community after upgrading, where the concrete-paved and fully-drained road now doubles as a playground.
Most poor communities do not come in the way of any legitimate urban development plans and should be able to stay where they are now, as much as possible - or at least within their sangkats (wards), where they already have networks of support, friendship and employment.
And even when communities are in the way of important development plans, there are many ways to accommodate them close by, with just a little shifting here and there, using such techniques as land-readjustment, land sharing, reblocking, land-swapping or nearby relocation. As long as this land readjustment is done with the community's consent and full involvement in the planning process, the city's need to develop and people's need for secure housing need not collide
.
It's been over three years now since May 2003, when Cambodia's Prime Minister announced a new policy to support the community driven upgrading of 100 poor communities, as a first step towards providing secure land tenure, basic services and decent housing to Phnom Penh's poor.
Nearly 200 poor communities have taken advantage of the space this new policy creates for people to plan and implement improvements to their lives and living environments that are gradually going beyond a few paved walkways or water taps, to include good basic services, a healthy and beautiful environment, good housing, secure land tenure, a strong and supportive community, good economic opportunities and greater legitimacy as part of the city.
Three years ago, community upgrading was a brand new concept that nobody really understood. Back then, if you suggested that urban poor settlements could be beautiful, healthy and green places, they'd say you were crazy. If upgrading is now being mainstreamed, there's no reason why secure land tenure can't likewise become something that is accepted as not only do-able, but as good for the city as all these upgrading "before" and "after" transformations
The process has had its ups and downs, but as the city watches increasing numbers of communities transform themselves from squalid "befores" into healthy and livable "afters", enthusiasm for the next phase of upgrading is running high.
What form could this land tenure take? It could be full land title (individual or collective) where people occupy their own land, or collective lease contracts where the communities occupy government land, and it could involve nearby-relocation with land title or long-term lease in cases where communities fall in the way of planned urban development projects. There are many options.
Community Upgrading Activities supported by UPDF so far
(figures as of October 2006. Exchange rate: US$1 = Riels 4,000)
Communities on what type of land |
Number of communities / households benefiting |
Number of sangkats (wards) |
Community Upgrading grants |
Housing improvement loans – Total loans / number of households |
1. Around Lakes |
20 (1,840 households |
4 |
US$ 24,167 |
US$ 190,263 (496 households) |
2. On Railway Land |
3 (346 households) |
3 |
US$ 6,727 |
US$ 61,600 (146 households) |
3. On rooftops |
5 (160 households |
3 |
US$ 1,456 |
US$ 16,350 (56 households) |
4. In resettlement colonies |
10 (7,526 households) |
7 |
US$ 32,359 |
US$ 71,745 (289 households) |
5. On their own land |
38 (4,436 households) |
18 |
US$ 115,557 |
US$ 224,385 (587 households) |
6. Along river banks |
14 (1,192 households) |
6 |
US$ 32,340 |
US$ 124,855 (370 households) |
7. Along canals |
2 (303 households) |
2 |
US$ 2,927 |
US$ 20,750 (48 households) |
8. Along roads |
4 (378 households) |
4 |
US$ 6,587 |
US$ 44,825 (102 households) |
9. On government land |
3 (507 households) |
2 |
US$ 1,374 |
US$ 12,128 (34 households) |
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
99 communities (16,688 households) |
in 36 sangkats (out of total 76 in the city) |
US$ 223,494 |
US$ 766,901 |
Not the only show in town
Since the new upgrading policy was launched in 2003, the political space for improving urban poor communities in the city has opened up substantially. Several organizations besides UPDF have embraced the new policy and raised funds to support upgrading activities, widening the range of resources available to Phnom Penh's poor to put together more substantial upgrading plans over time, and to get support for their projects from different sources. The total number of upgrading projects supported by all these programs now comes close to 200.
The Partnership for Urban Poverty Reduction Program (PUPR)
was a 2-year program developed as a collaboration between the Municipality and the UN Human Security Fund, which ended in March 2006. PUPR provided livelihood loans (total $56,850) and grants for community organizing (total $21,910) and physical community upgrading activities (total $707,502) to 167 poor settlements around the city, affecting 30,119 households. The upgrading projects included paved and graveled roads and lanes, bridges, road repairs, wells, light poles and primary schools.
The Seila Program
is a large, national government development support program being financed by a package of grants and loans from international donors, with a national budget of $100 million. Sheila supports projects in training, upgrading, socio-economic development, gender, security, infrastructure, and has also channeled funds to the sangkat (ward) councils, some of which have collaborated with poor communities in the ward to develop small, community-driven upgrading projects.
Next : Some of the upgrading projects