Residents threaten to blockade Unocal complex

Residents of Giri Mukti village in East Kalimantan have threatened to blockade the access road to the gas and oil complex of Unocal Indonesia in the province if the company refused to pay a fair compensation to victims of the company?s recent gas leakages, local newspaper Kaltim Post reported on Tuesday.

Hafiz, a member of the negotiation team representing the villagers, said on Monday that if the villagers? demand to get a compensation of Rp100 million for each of the victims, or if the negotiations were stalled, the villagers would take a firm action such as by imposing a blockade to the access road to the company?s operational site.

?If the demand is not fulfilled, we will impose a blockade and ask the company to stop its activities. But we promise we will not do any harm. We will hold a peaceful protest,? he said.

The negotiation team is scheduled to resume the talks today to settle the compensation payment. The negotiations have been carried out for several times but fail to produce any results.

As reported earlier, a gas leakage occurred in Unocal?s gas terminal in Lawelawe. According to Unocal only two victims were seriously affected by the gas leak but the residents insisted that the number of the victims reached at least 113 people.

All the medical cost for the victims were paid by Unocal. The company also paid a loss-time compensation of Rp60,000 per day to the villagers hospitalized due to the gas leakage. (*)