Protesters block newly built Serpong toll road
Protesters block newly built Serpong toll road
TANGERANG (JP): Dozens of demonstrators blocked a tollgate of
the newly built Bintaro-Serpong toll road in Ciputat here on
Friday to protest its construction.
The protesters claimed that 3,280 square meters of the toll
road were still owned by the heirs of a deceased local Kampung
Sawah villager named Kampret.
Daud, a lawyer representing the heirs, said the plot had never
been sold to any party.
"As the lawyer of the land's heirs, I have the right to order
people to block this," he said.
The protesters, who had begun blocking the tollgate on
Thursday, piled wooden poles on the road and set up tents at the
site, making it impossible for motorists to pass through the
gates.
According to a tentative schedule, the 7.1-kilometer-long toll
road linking the vast Bumi Serpong Damai housing complex with the
Bintaro area is to be opened on Saturday by Minister of Public
Works Rachmadi B. Sumadhijo.
Citing a legal document issued by the Tangerang Land and
Building Tax Office, Daud said the land was still registered
under Kampret's name.
The lawyer said that none of Kampret's relatives, including
his four sons, had sold the land to the state-owned toll road
operator, PT Jasa Marga.
The firm, however, claims to have bought the land, he said.
Daud explained that Kampret's family had once offered the plot
to Jasa Marga at Rp 275,000 per square meter, but that the two
parties had never reached an agreement.
The family also rejected a Rp 50 million "compensation" offer
by the Ciputat district chief, the lawyer said.
"How could he use the word 'compensation' for this land since
it was still owned (by the family)," Daud said, adding that the
standard market price of land in the area ranged between Rp
250,000 and Rp 275,000 per square meter.
When asked to comment on the protesters' actions, Iqbal, a
representative of Bumi Serpong Damai housing complex's developer
which had also constructed the toll road, said his company did
not know how Jasa Marga had appropriated the land.
"We just built the road to provide easy access for people
heading to and from the housing complex," Iqbal said.
An assistant to the Tangerang regent, Obun Burhanuddin, said
at the site that he also did not know how the land was
appropriated.
"We also never received a report about the Rp 50 million
compensation offer from the Ciputat district official," he said.
None of the protesters, who did not look as if they were from
the area, were willing to comment on their presence.
In an attempt to avoid possible unrest, local security
authorities deployed dozens of armed personnel at the site.
"We are only ordered to safeguard the area. We do not know
anything about the dispute," sergeant Sarjono, one of the police
officers, said. (41/jun)