Locals block road to power project
Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung
Hundreds of villagers in East Lampung blocked off a section of the Sumatra East Coast Highway that is under repair in protest of a company they accuse of failing to honor its promise to provide electricity for their villages.
PT AK, one of several companies involved in the Rp 550 billion (US$60 million) road repair project, reportedly promised to bring electricity to the villages of Purworejo and Gunungtiga in Batanghari Nuban subdistrict in compensation for the company's use of land in the villages.
Purworejo village head Misdi said villagers would continue to block the road to prevent the company from completing the project until it honored its promise.
"More than 100 trucks carrying stones have been unable to make deliveries for four days because of the road blockage, and villagers will likely take the law into their own hands if the trucks try to force their way through," he said.
Rahman, a 27-year-old resident of Gunungtiga village, said villagers were also threatening to occupy the company's office near the village to demonstrate their seriousness.
"Our demand is very simple: connecting our village with power from PLN," he said, referring to the state-owned electricity company.
Last week, hundreds of villagers blocked off another section of the highway in Purbolinggo subdistrict, demanding the local administration and developer PT Sangyong, which is also involved in the road project, compensate them for land being used for the project.
The situation in the two villages has been tense since villagers threatened to take action unless the companies honored their demands.
A staff member at one of the companies said his company had suffered huge losses because it has had to suspend its operation for the last three days.
The staff member said the company had to continue to pay its workers despite the shutdown, and the completion of the project would be delayed as a result of the standoff.
According to a written agreement with the villagers, PT AK appointed CV Sinar Abadi to build a Rp 80 million power network to connect the two villages to PLN soon after it won the project bid several months ago.
Subar Pribadi, an employee of PLN, said his office had received no request from PT AK to provide electricity to the two villages, and that PLN had no plans to do so in the near future because of budget constraints.
He said if CV Sinar Abadi was appointed to build a power network, it would need a permit from PLN "and we will make sure that all of the cables and poles used in the network meet PLN's standards".