East Kalimantan villagers blockade Vico road
Wednesday, May 24 2000 - 03:10 AM WIB
The villagers of the Kutai regency in East Kalimantan province has blockaded the road to the oil and gas facilities of PT Vico Indonesia in the Samberah area, Marangkayu sub district, since last Wednesday.
Vico external relations manager Saiful Rahman was quoted by the Kompas daily as saying that the road blockade has caused the company to find difficulties to continuously control some of its 68 oil and gas wells.
Saiful said that a continuous observation of the oil and gas wells was needed because if a gas leakage or fire incident occurred, non only the company which would suffer but also the local community.
He said that the road blockade had not disrupted the company's operation, but employees had to walk four kilometers to control the oil and gas wells.
Kompas said that the road blockade was made by the villagers who have been disappointed by the result of a meeting with Vico management on May 13 over a land compensation dispute.
Some 230 ha of the villagers land eroded due to the company's oil and gas operation.
Saiful said that negotiation for the compensation still continue. The villagers initially demanded Rp 86 billion, and then reduced to Rp 36 billion, and to Rp 7 billion. Vico offered compensation in the form of community development worth Rp 1-2 billion (US$1 = Rp 8,445)
A similar road blockade incident has first been suffered by gold mining giant in East Kalimantan, PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM), which is operating in the West Kutai regency. (*)