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.