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)