Tangerang `no' to PLN offer

TANGERANG (JP): Thirty-five residents of the Pasar Kemis and Sepatan districts in Tangerang are refusing land compensation offers from the state electricity company PLN because they consider them too low.

Asdaya J., an official of the Sindang Panon village administration in Pasar Kemis district, said that the residents are demanding Rp 500,000 (about US$238) for every square meter of land needed to clear the way for the installation of PLN's high voltage transmission cable network.

The compensation rates set by PLN for some land plots located alongside streets range from Rp 25,000 to Rp 30,000 per square meter, while for those some distance from streets the compensation ranges from Rp 15,000 to Rp 20,000.

The residents demanded higher compensation because many potential buyers had expressed interest in procuring their land long before PLN decided to use the area for the establishment of the cable transmission project.

One of the residents, H. Jaya, said that someone had offered to buy his 1,479-square-meter plot of land, but had changed his mind when he saw a number of concrete poles installed by PLN on the land without the owner's approval.

All the residents, whose land will be used for the project, have reportedly removed all of the concrete poles from their land and are demanding that PLN negotiate. (13/mas)