Family blocks BSD toll road

Family blocks BSD toll road

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Seven members of a family blocked BSD toll road, linking
Bintaro and Bumi Serpong Damai satellite city (BSD) on Tuesday,
demanding compensation for their land amounting to Rp 2.9 billion
(around US$325,842).

The traffic slowed when Natigor Panjaitan along with six
members of his family and five other relatives parked a car on
the toll road not far from Pondok Ranji toll gate in Ciputat,
Tangerang at 5:30 a.m.

A banner was tied between the car and the toll fence that
read: "We won't leave this place until Jasa Marga pays us for our
land". Another poster read: "This plot of land has not been
paid".

The family also sprayed graffiti on the road in red paint:
"This is disputed land".

But the traffic congestion ended after Pondok Ranji toll gate
attendants asked the Panjaitan family to open two thirds of the
blockaded road.

Natigor explained that the toll road management PT Jasa Marga
took his 1,000 meter-square plot of land in 1997 for the toll
road. Natigor claimed that Jasa Marga failed to pay any
compensation.

On Aug. 19 this year, Tangerang District Court ruled in favor
of Natigor, ordering the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional
Infrastructure and PT Jasa Marga to pay Rp 1.5 million for each
square meter of the land plus an additional compensation,
amounting to Rp 2.9 billion.

Although PT Jasa Marga filed an appeal, Natigor believed he
would not lose the case. "Go ahead, file an appeal. But please
show me that they have good intentions," Natigor was quoted by
detik.com news portal.

Natigor claimed that PT Jasa Marga had promised to settle the
problem on Nov. 5. As PT Jasa Marga failed to keep their word,
the family decided to block the road on Nov. 14 and repeated the
action on Tuesday.

Satria, a public relations official of PT Jasa Marga, told The
Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the matter was no longer in the
hands of the company because the ministry had taken over the
obligation to pay the compensation.

But a press relations official at the minister's office,
Catherine, denied the statement and told the Post that there is a
team comprising both representatives of the office and PT Jasa
Marga tasked to settle the dispute.