Japan asks RI to pay compensation for dam

Japan asks RI to pay compensation for dam

Dow Jones, Tokyo

Japan has asked the Indonesian government to compensate villagers on Sumatra Island forcibly resettled from their land to make way for a Tokyo-funded hydropower dam on the border of West Sumatra and Riau, Kyodo News reported from Jakarta on Tuesday, citing diplomatic sources.

According to the sources, Tokyo takes issue with Indonesia's failure to fulfill pledges to provide replacement rubber plantations and clean well water to villagers displaced by the construction of Kotopanjang Dam, Kyodo added.

Jakarta has received the request and is now speeding up the drafting of measures to aid the villagers, the sources said.

The request follows reports some 3,000 people from 13 villages on the island are planning to file a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against the Japanese government for losses they suffered due to forced resettlement. It would be the first time a project paid for by Japan's official development assistance has been legally challenged.

Kotopanjang Dam, built on a protected forest and traditionally owned land in the provinces of Riau and West Sumatra, was completed in 1997 at a cost of Y36.4 billion. Of that, Y31.18 billion was paid for by a yen-denominated government loan.

As a result of the dam construction, 12,400 hectares of fertile valley land have been submerged and 4,866 families forcibly moved.

The villagers have been left without proper living facilities, such as clean well water on the resettled land, and have not been guaranteed job opportunities there, becoming "developmental refugees," according to supporters of the villagers.

Japanese government sources said the aid project was meant to serve as a "model case" of having the recipient country fulfill conditions such as obtaining the consent of villagers to resettle, Kyodo said.