KEM resumes operation
Friday, May 5 2000 - 04:30 AM WIB
Gold mining firm PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM), subsidiary of Australian listed company Rio Tinto, in East Kalimantan resumed operation on Thursday after a five-day temporary halt following the road blockade made by the local people, the Bisnis Indonesia daily reported.
The paper quoted director general of mining Surna T. Djajadiningrat as saying that KEM had reached agreement over the land compensation problem with the local people.
KEM had to temporarily stop its operation after the local people blockaded the road to the mining operation, causing difficulties for the company to supply food and fuel.
The protest of the local people is particularly focused on land compensation. The people demands a compensation of Rp 100,000 per square meter for the land acquired by KEM.
But Surna said that this was not reasonable as the market price for the land there was not that much.
Surna also added that the central government would not intervene in the dispute between the company and the local people, pointing out that the local administration had the will and ability to resolve the problem. (*)