Residents reject Pelni's land compensation

Residents reject Pelni's land compensation

JAKARTA (JP): Twenty-nine families living in a housing complex
on Jl. Pembangunan, Central Jakarta, have rejected a compensation
offer from the state-owned shipping company PT Pelayaran Nasional
Indonesia (Pelni), which wants to expel them from their homes.

The residents claim that the money offered by Pelni is too
little to adequately compensate them for the loss of their
houses, which are built on land which is owned by the shipping
company.

The land dispute is currently before the Jakarta
Administrative Court.

John Rorimpandey, one of the residents, said that the company
announced its intention expel them in February last year. It
offered each family compensation of between Rp 27 million (US$
12,267) and Rp 35 million, depending of the size of their land
and buildings, as well as an additional Rp 1 million for moving
expenses.

The announcement was made by Capt. John F. Rainard, the
company's technical director, who is also the head of the land-
clearing committee.

John said that in June the committee sent a letter saying that
the committee had increased the amount offered for moving
expenses from Rp 1 million to Rp 6 million for each family.

One woman, who asked not to be named, told reporters that the
residents, mostly former employees of the company, did not oppose
the expulsion plan. "But please give us proper compensation," she
said.

John said that the compound had previously been home to 69
families, but that 40 of them had already moved away.

"Those who have moved away are still working at the firm and
are afraid that the company will fire them if they do not leave
the compound," John said.

According to Paul Kawilarang, a retired Pelni seaman who was
responsible for the housing distribution for the firm's employees
in 1958, said that the company's plan to clear its housing
compound is without legal basis.

According to Paul, the company has no right to expel the
residents from the housing compound. The only party with the
right to sell the land, Paul says, is the Minister of Finance.
(mas)