Kedungombo villagers renew protest

Kedungombo villagers renew protest

SEMARANG: Some 1,000 villagers residing near the Kedungombo
dam in the regencies of Boyolali, Sragen and Grobogan, staged a
rally on Tuesday demanding that the government pay the remaining
compensation for land lost to the dam project in 1985.

The villagers, mostly farmers, thronged the front yard of the
Central Java Governor's office on Jl. Pahlawan, Semarang,
claiming that the development of the dam had inflicted huge
losses to them.

"We have lost our land, yet the compensation process has not
been completed," one of the protesters said.

Since the project started in 1985, the government has been
overwhelmed with protests from local landowners.

Many had rejected compensation and a government offer to
relocate them to other villages, despite the fact that the
filling of the dam had begun.

The situation grew worse and received international attention
at the time when a protesting villager asked (the late) priest,
Y.B. Mangunwijaya, to participate as an activist.

Efforts have been made by the government to calm the villagers
by, among other things, providing certificates for plots of land
in other villages as compensation.

The problem remains, however unresolved, and the farmers
renewed their protest on Tuesday. They also demanded that the
gubernatorial decrees issued in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and
1987 on the establishment of the special committee to deal with
the land acquisition process be revoked. "The decrees have been a
disaster for Kedungombo landowners," the protesters' spokesman,
Paris Rajanto, said.

None of the officials responded to the farmers' protest.

Kedungombo dam covers a total of 6,576 hectares of land
through three villages. The project absorbed a total of almost
US$181 million, of which $156 million was from World Bank loans.
(har)