Chinese Firm Pulls Out Of Major Phnom Penh Development Plans

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - JULY 17: One of the only families still living on the lake sits near their home on what was the Boeung Kak Lake on the sand which was used by the company in charge of the development project to fill in the lake on July 17, 2014 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Erdos Hongjun Investment Corporation has pulled out of a controversial USD2.17 billion development project on Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak Lake. In 2011, Erdos and the Cambodian-owned Shukaku company, which had formed the Shukaku Erdos Hongjun Property Development Co, were approved by the Cambodian government to develop the area with hotels, luxury apartments and office buildings. So far the only work undertaken has been to fill the lake with sand, (which previously had served as an important drainage site for the city) and to build a road through the middle, a project which has evicted approximately 3,000 families in the process, many of whom are still fighting for adequate compensation. (Photo by Omar Havana/Getty Images)