Banpu's Kitadin accused of taking villagers? land
Tuesday, January 8 2002 - 02:17 AM WIB
Coal mining firm PT Kitadin in East Kalimantan has been accused of illegally taking over land belonging to villagers in the Kerta Buana Embalut area in Tenggarong regency, the local Kaltim Post daily reported.
Kitadin is a subsidiary of Thai energy conglomerate Banpu Plc.
The paper quoted villagers legal adviser Udin Mulyono as saying that Kitadin must stop current coal mining operation in the parcel of land until the company pay sufficient compensation to the land owners.
Kitadin, which is linked to Thailand?s energy giant Banpu Plc., has annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons.
Udin said that if Kitadin declined to heed to the demands, the villagers would take ?unfavorable action.? He did not elaborate.
The paper did not say the size of the disputed parcel of land.
No comments yet from the company.(*)