Kutai residents refuse to move from their village

Residents of Kertabuana village, Kutai Kertanegara regency, East Kalimantan have rejected coal mining company PT Kitadin's offer to relocate to a new settlement area to pave the way for the expansion of the firm's coal mining site, Kompas reported on Monday.

Kitadin, a subsidiary of Thai company Banpu, has offered a number of options in the relocation plan to the villagers but they mostly opposed the relocation offer. About 3,700 residents, mostly migrants from Bali and Lombok, have occupied the village for almost 23 years.

Ida Bagus Purwa, a leading community leader in the village, denied claims that most of the villagers had agreed on the company?s offer.

According to a survey made by Kitadin and a team from the Bandung Institute of Technology, 47 percent of the households in the village agreed to move, 11 percent agreed with certain requirements, while seven percent remained doubtful, 13 percent gave no comment and the remaining 22 percent refused the offer. (*)