Poor coordination blamed for PLN cable dispute

Poor coordination blamed for PLN cable dispute

TANGERANG (JP): A member of the National Commission on Human
Rights said the placement of high voltage cables over the Ciledug
Indah housing complex was due to a lack of coordination.

Area residents recently raised an outcry over the presence of
the cables they said were causing health problems.

"I think the problem arose due to a lack of coordination
between the Tangerang administration and the West Java provincial
administration and the state-electricity company (PLN)," Brig.
Gen. (Ret) Roekmini Koesoemo Astoeti said after attending a
closed meeting with Tangerang Deputy Regent H.M. Nuhriana Husnadi
on Tuesday.

Roekmini said that the Tangerang administration did not
consult the West Java provincial administration when it issued a
permit for the developer of the Ciledug Indah Housing estate, PT
Duta Megah Perdana, in 1987.

Roekmini said the meeting revealed that the Tangerang
administration did not know that the West Java administration had
earlier issued another land use permit for PLN to put up the
towers for the high voltage cable network in the Ciledug area.

The former Regent of Tangerang, Tadjus Sobirin, issued a
permit for PT Duta Megah Perdana, a developer, to build a housing
estate on a 20-hectare plot of land in Tangerang regency on Feb.
6, 1987.

Roekmini also said that the Tangerang administration has
agreed to relocate the 120 residents of the Ciledug Indah housing
estate, but the administration's plan is being hampered by
financial problems and the scarcity of land.

Djoko Sugianto, another member of the commission, has asked
PLN to temporarily turn off the electrical current flowing
through the cables suspended over the housing estate.

Djoko's plea was rejected by the chief of PLN's office in
Tangerang, Ali Herman, who said it is impossible to turn off the
current because the towers are now being used by PLN to
distribute electricity to other people living in the Ciledug
area.

Ali said the height of the transmission towers has been raised
from the original nine meters to 18 meters in an effort to
resolve the matter.

In a hearing with Commission VI of the House of
Representatives on Nov. 15, PLN president Zuhal said the
installation of the high voltage cable network and towers in the
Ciledug Indah housing complex could not jeopardize the health of
the people living there.

One hundred and twenty residents of the Ciledug Indah housing
estate in Tangerang went to the headquarters of the National
Commission on Human Rights to complain about the bad effects of
the high voltage cables suspended over their housing complex.

The residents said that they have physically suffered since
PLN activated the 500,000-volt electric current flowing through
cables suspended over their housing complex on Nov. 25

The residents complained of nausea, irregular heartbeats and
skin irritations.

During an inspection of the site last Thursday, Roekmini and
Djoko witnessed that a current tester lighted up when one of the
Ciledug Indah residents touched it to a television antenna.
(13/mas)