Blockade of KEM road, facility ends

The road blockade made by protesting villagers at the mining site of gold mining company PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM) in West Kutai, East Kalimantan, has stopped since late last week, according to Rio Tinto Indonesia spokesmwoman Nunik Maulana.

Rio Tinto controls more than 90 percent interest in KEM.

Nunik also told Petromindo.com that the road blockade was made by only around 30 villagers, not some 2,000 as reported earlier by the local Kaltim Post daily.

Kaltim Post reported Tuesday that thousands of protesting villagers had blockaded the road and facility of KEM since July 25 over slow disbursement of compensation for land they claimed.

The paper said that KEM was ready to disburse some Rp 60 billion in compensation, but it had yet to reach agreement with local NGO (non-governmental organization) called LKMTL over the payment procedure. KEM wants to disburse the cash directly to the villagers, while LKMTL insists that the disbursement should be made via the NGO, which claims to represent the protesting villagers. (*)