PLN workers flee to avoid possible attack in Banjar

PLN workers flee to avoid possible attack in Banjar

Yuliansyah, The Jakarta Post, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan

Workers of state-owned electricity company PT PLN have left their
office at Riam Kanan Dam, the site of a hydroelectric power plant
in Banjar regency, South Kalimantan, as locals repeated threats
to demolish the plant by January.

None of the 15 workers were seen on Monday at the reservoir,
which is home to the biggest hydroelectric power plant in the
province, while a squad of armed police personnel stood on guard
outside.

Villagers told The Jakarta Post on Monday that PLN had
evacuated all its workers from the dam after Idul Fitri, the end
of the Ramadhan fasting month, as the Jan. 1 deadline was nearing
for the company to pay Rp 162 billion in compensation for land
taken over for the project.

PLN has refused to pay the compensation demanded by locals
despite an agreement signed between the company, the Banjar
administration and representatives of the residents on Jan. 23 of
this year.

Instead, PLN plans to take the dispute to court, arguing that
the 108,119.478 square meters of land used for the reservoir
consisted of state land rather than land belonging to locals.

The villagers further said that PLN employees were allowed to
go on a leave or an extended vacation for several days after the
Idul Fitri holiday.

"PLN's office at the Riam Kanan Dam is deserted ahead of the
Jan. 1 deadline. All the workers have been evacuated," a resident
said.

However, Purnomo Willy, the general manager of the PLN
business unit overseeing South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan,
denied the evacuation of workers, saying: "It was not true".

All workers stationed at the plant have been ordered to return
to work, but at the same time to keep alert for possible attacks
by residents, he added.

"We have reminded them to be on alert to prevent any
unexpected disturbances, especially on Jan. 1," Willy said.

The villagers have threatened to demolish the dam as part of
their protest against PLN for its refusal to pay the compensation
by Jan. 1.

Deputy Banjar Regent Mawardi Abbas said that his
administration could do nothing to help the locals, but said it
would support their move to take the dispute to court.

Willy said that PLN would not pay the compensation demanded
for about 9,700 hectares of land cleared for the dam, which
includes eight villages in the Aranio subdistrict of Banjar. "We
will only be prepared to pay if a court orders us to do so,"
Willy said.

He claimed his company had paid over a period of time a total
of more than Rp 173 million in compensation for the land when the
project was being developed between 1963 and 1973. "The money was
distributed among 1,377 families and the value was quite high at
the time," he added.

The villagers have refuted the claim, saying that the money
was only to compensate their crops, not their land.

The reservoir, constructed under the regime of former
president Soeharto, was to have become an important economic
resource for villagers, mostly farmers, in Riam Kanan.

They have long been struggling to get compensation for the
land cleared for the project, but the effort has so far been
fruitless.

If the locals go ahead with their threat, it would cut off at
least 15 percent of electricity supplied by the plant to South
and Central Kalimantan.