Company, locals in conflict over big resort project
Company, locals in conflict over big resort project
Ridwan Max Sijabat and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Merek
Calm has returned to a tourist resort in Merek subdistrict, some 120 kilometers southeast of the North Sumatran provincial capital of Medan, following days of protest against a large tourist resort being constructed there.
Police were no longer guarding the project site, and more than 150 workers resumed their work constructing roads, a golf course and a temple on the 200-hectare area.
Vehicles and trucks carrying workers and materials were again free to enter and leave the site, with protesters removing their roadblocks.
"Thank God, the situation is under control and all workers are back at work. We hope it will last so that they can work in safety," Sahariadi Sidabalok, a project construction manager, told The Jakarta Post.
PT Merek Indah Lestari (PT MIL), a foreign-owned company, is developing the hill resort in the Gorat Ni Padang area.
Dozens of residents of Kodon-kodon village, which faces onto Lake Toba and is located below the project site, recently chopped down trees and placed logs across entrance roads to the project in protest at the company's refusal to pay compensation to villagers who claim their farm lands were affected by a landslide caused by the project.
The landslide damaged at least three hectares of paddy fields and farming land.
The project also sparked controversy as it is alleged that it is encroaching upon protected forest areas, and that a part of the project is located on critical land.
PT MIL president Mustika Akbar told the Post that the company was still waiting for clarification from the local administration about ownership of farm lands affected by the landslide before it paid out the compensation.
"The management has decided to pay compensation to several more people but they must prove that their farm lands were affected by the landslide," he said.
He said the landslide affected land belonging to about 20 farmers and that the company had earlier this month paid out hundreds of millions of rupiah in compensation to them.
"But, after that, three or four more villagers came to our offices demanding compensation. They later provoked others to stage a protest after they failed to obtain the compensation," he said.
Asked about allegations that the project endangered the environment, Mustika said the tourist resort did not encroach on protected forests or critical land, as proven by the local administration's permit to build tourist facilities in the area.
The company, belonging to a Singaporean investor, obtained a permit a few months after it bought the large area from residents of Kodon-kodon, Pangambatan and Paropo Villages in 2000.
He admitted, however, that the company had not conducted a environmental impact study for the resort project.
The firm is building a five-hole golf course, an inter-faith park, a five-star hotel, a greenhouse aquarium, and eight hectares of horticultural gardens on the site. The project employs over 1,000 local people.
Anton Bahrul Alam Munthe and Monang Simanjorang of Kodon-kodon said they were not against the project, but were just demanding justice.
"They promised to pay compensation, but it never materialized," Anton said.