400 Villagers demand housing compensation

400 Villagers demand housing compensation

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of villagers demanded compensation on Wednesday from PT FMP for demolishing their houses in Citeureup District, Bogor. Their homes were destroyed to make way for a housing estate and a golf course.

The villagers met with Citeureup district officials and the commander of Bogor Military District Command, Capt. AS Nasution, to request the compensation.

About 400 villagers attended the meeting and asked the district officials to settle the reckless land clearance problem, Antara reported.

PT FMP bulldozed hundreds of houses in the Cipambuan and Pabauran villages after reaching a deadlock over compensation payment for land owned by the villages.

The villagers refused to move and turned down the developer's offer because they considered it too low.

The developer offered Rp 25,000 per metre plus Rp 250 for each metre of building. The villagers asked for between Rp 50,000 and Rp 100,000 per metre, the market price of nearby land.

Once the lengthy negotiation failed, the developer bulldozed the houses without any notification.

The 400 villagers were part of 2,500 families occupying the 205-hectare plot of land located along the Jagorawi toll road. Only 30 percent of them have been compensated by PT FMP.

Cipambuan district secretary Eman Sukirman criticized the developer for their indiscriminate action. He told the villagers that his office will help settle the problem and asked them to remain calm.

"According to the city plan, the area cleared by the developer has been designated by the Bogor administration for an outer ring road project and a mosque," Eman said.

Antara reported that one of the villagers had died from shock.

The villagers asked for the local military command to protect them against any possible intimidation from PT FMP.

The commander guaranteed the villagers' safety and asked them to report any threat or intimidation. (25)