Govt decides to use state budget to compensate Sidoarjo mudflow victims
Thursday, February 28 2008 - 02:51 AM WIB
The three villages are Besuki, Kedungcangkring and Pejarakan.
The decision was taken during a limited meeting at the State Palace, which was presided over by President Susilo BambangYudhoyono, in attendance were several
Cabinet ministers, East Java senior officials and the Sidoarjo Mudfow Mitigation Body (BPLS) head.
?The government has decided to use funds from the state budget because we are concerned about the condition of the residents,? Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto told a media conference after the meeting.
?Besides, we need to accelerate the channeling of the mud, which we believe can be completed by building more channels in the three villages.
?By doing so, the mud will recede and people there would not be threatened anymore,? he said.
The minister said the government would start disbursing compensation within the next three to four months. In the first phase, it would pay some Rp 170 billion, he said.
The government said it would also acquire residential land in an effort to make it easier to channel the mudflow from the nearby dam to the Porong river.
Djoko said the government would use a similar scheme as applied to the people whose areas were included in the presidential decree.
Under the scheme, residents received compensation from Lapindo through two phases of the installment.
The first phase saw them receive 20 percent of the total amount of compensation, while the remaining 80 percent should be disbursed in phase two.
Djoko said President Yudhoyono ordered the mudflow mitigation body and East Java administrations to draw up concrete plans to follow up this decision.
BPLS head Soenarso said there were some 2,926 families living in the three villages. He said the body would conduct further monitoring to see if there were more villages also affected by the mudflow. (*)