Killing Fields deal hits delay

A deal to privatise the killing fields genocide memorial near Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, has been delayed.

Municipal authorities were due to sign a contract with a Japanese company on Thursday.

The proposed deal, which would put a national monument in overseas hands, had caused controversy within Cambodia.

The municipal authorities had insisted the deal would go ahead despite growing opposition. But at the last minute, the signing ceremony was cancelled.

Both the governor and deputy governor of Phnom Penh found they had conflicting appointments elsewhere.

So the contract remains unsigned for the moment.

The authorities have not announced a new date for the ceremony and it seems possible the deal may now be scrapped entirely.

Senior sources in the ruling party, the CPP, have made it clear that they are against the proposal and representatives of the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime have asked Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene. The motivation behind the deal remains unclear. The Phnom Penh authorities were planning to grant a Japanese company called J C Royal a 30-year lease on the Choeung Ek Killing Fields site.

The company would pay $15,000 a year. It would also surface the road to the memorial, build a visitors' centre and raise admission prices by 600%.

But there was already a long-standing agreement for the Asia Development Bank to fund some improvements, including a new road.

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