Resident questioned over destruction

Resident questioned over destruction

JAKARTA (JP): A resident of Koja Utara, North Jakarta, was
arrested on Tuesday for allegedly destroying fences belonging to
PT Humpuss, a company which is constructing a cargo terminal in
the area together with state-owned port company PT Pelindo II.

Welly Yakob, a resident of the district, told The Jakarta Post
yesterday that the suspect, Martin Mohamad, had been kept in
police custody overnight.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro confirmed
yesterday that Martin was questioned by the police in relation to
destruction of the company's property.

"He has been released today," Bambang said.

In July, Koja Utara residents were accused of vandalizing
various properties belonging to the company. The accusations were
made by PT Pelindo II and the North Jakarta mayoralty, both of
which are involved in a dispute over land compensation with
residents of the district. The damaged property in question
included a 50-meter-long fence in Jl. Gang 64, which had
collapsed.

Speaking to local military District Commander Capt. Mohamad
Nuh, the residents at that time denied the charges of
destruction, showing the commander that the collapse had been
caused by a construction fault rather through willful destruction
on the part of residents.

Meanwhile, North Jakarta Mayor Suprawito, accompanied by other
local leaders, including local military Area Commander Lt. Col.
Bahir Alamsyah, North Jakarta District Police Chief Lt. Col.
Abubakar Nataprawira and representatives of PT Pelindo II, met
with Koja Utara residents on Tuesday, calling on them to accept
the compensation offered by the local government for the loss of
their homes to the project.

"The cargo terminal project will continue and there is no
reason to suspend it," Suprawito said.

The residents, however, promptly objected to the mayor's
statement.

"There will be no construction until the problem of
compensation has been settled," the residents shouted as they
dispersed.

Suprawito told reporters later that there would be no change
to the rate of compensation offered.

"If we meet their demands it will affect other residents whose
compensation has already been paid," Suprawito said, adding that
he was prepared to talk with the residents, except regarding
their demand for a higher level of compensation.

According to Suprawito, the compensation rate set by his
decree was based on rate paid to residents displaced by the
Cilincing-Pluit flyover and the Sunter III dam.

The land compensation dispute arose after PT Pelindo II and PT
Humpuss announced last year that they would appropriate some 90
hectares of land for the construction of a new cargo terminal.

The company set the compensation rate at between Rp 100,000
(US$44) and Rp 150,000 per square meter, while the residents
asked for Rp 2,275 million per sq m, but said the figure was
negotiable.

After a number of negotiating sessions ended in a deadlock,
the mayor of North Jakarta decreed that the rate would be between
Rp 100,000 to Rp 165,000 per sq m.

The new terminal, which is being built at a cost of $498
million, is scheduled to commence operations in October 1998.
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