Locals block road to power project

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".