Villagers to sue Pertamina
Friday, January 26 2001 - 04:30 AM WIB
The Kasuratan villagers in Rembukan sub district, Minahasa regency, North Sulawesi, will sue the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina over problems with location of the latter's geothermal project.
The local Manado Post daily reported on Friday that around 1,500 villagers had hired a local lawyer to file the charges against Pertamina.
The villagers had long complaint of the location of the geothermal project, which is only some 50-100 meter away from the village. The villagers fear that once the project starts operation, there would be severe impact to the surrounding environment.
The villagers said that Pertamina had never listen to their protest.
The paper said that the villagers were not against the geothermal project because they realized that the project would bring benefit to the local community.
The project, which started development in 1984, will start operation in March 2001 and would produce some 20 MW electricity power. Another 20 MW would be produced in June 2001. (*)