Riau residents wait for compensation from Caltex

About 20 villagers in Talangmadi village in the district of Mandau, Bengkalis regency, Riau have demanded oil giant PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia to soon pay the compensation for the land that have been seriously polluted by the company?s waste.

The head of the Talangmadi village, Nawawi Sattah said that Calext management had agreed to acquire all the land in the village that were affected by the company?s waste but the promise had not been realized until now.

Meanwhile, Caltex?s public relations coordinator in Duri and Bekasap, Tiva P Iswahyudi said that the company was still working on the compensation plan. "The compensation is being processed. Caltex is also waiting for approval from BPMIGAS for the disbursement of the fund for the compensation," he added.

He said that the compensation would be realized only after Caltex received a written approval from BPMIGAS -- the government?s agency which is responsible for the supervision of the country?s oil and gas upstream operation. (*)