Tangerang `no' to PLN offer

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)