Gov’t receives more than US$ 2 million as ECL rent income as the total land area is 1.16M hectares

• 25 August 2022
• Local News
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The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries has provided 229 economic land concessions for agro-industrial investment and a total contract area of 1,167,419 hectares throughout the country.

Of these, 72 ELC companies have paid annual land fees of $2,056,381.06 million to the government of August 2022, while other concession companies will continue to pay until the end of this year, HE Veng Sakhorn, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said on August 25.

“Out of the total land area, only 928,436 hectares are under business activities,” he said.

“Of which, 507,510 hectares are being cleared and 402,760 hectares other are being cultivated because [other companies] lack the capital to continue investing and soil quality is not in quality with the primary purpose of selecting crops to be cultivated and the global spread of covid-19, he said.

Currently, ELCs that invest in agro-industrial crops are located in 19 provinces across the country, including Mondulkiri, Ratanakkiri, Kratie, Stung Treng, Kampong Thom, Kampong Cham, Tbong Khmum, Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Kampong Speu, Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, Kampot, Svay Rieng, and Takeo.

The Minister of Agriculture added that in the last five years, there have been no cases of economic land concessions revoked, but only the cutting of affected land for people when registering land titles.

• Economy and Finance