Villagers refuse Caltex's compensation offer
Saturday, September 2 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Residents of the Sebangar village in Mandau district of the Bengkalis regency in Riau refused the compensation offered by PT Caltex Pasific Indonesia, and they instead demanded the oil giant to acquire their whole residential area, Riau Pos reported on Saturday.
The daily said that some of the villagers blocked the road access to the company's Borrow Pit project to pressure the oil giant meet their demand. The protesting villagers pledged to continue their blockade until the company met their demand. But they promised they would restrain from damaging the company's assets.
At least 60 families living in the village demanded Caltex to buy their residential areas because the waste resulting from the company's pit project made their place no longer suitable for a living.
The villagers said that their residential areas had been surrounded by the oil giant's pit development projects, which did not only produced waste but also made the access to the villages more difficult. (*)