Villagers start to feel benefits of Comdev programs

Villagers start to feel benefits of Comdev programs

Bsudibyo M. WiradjiB, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Villagers of Muara Jawa Ilir, Kutai regency, East Kalimantan,
suffered a severe shortage of clean water several years ago,
which forced some 2,000 people -- or 300 households -- to resort
to drinking raw water from rivers, collected rainfall and even
gutters.

The problem is now a thing of the past, as French-based Total
E&P Indonesie, an oil and gas company operating in Handil, about
10 kilometers from Muara Jawa Ilir, helped solve the problem
through its Community Development (Comdev) programs.

In collaboration with local authorities and community leaders,
the company constructed a water treatment facility to produce
clean water for the village.

The water processing project started in early 2003, and is now
complete, providing locals with a clean water supply and direct
access through taps installed in very house.

Of course, the water is not free of charge, but the benefits
are long-term, with local villagers becoming aware of healthy and
hygienic standards of living, thanks to the community development
program.

The Muara Jawa Ilir villagers are among those who have
benefited greatly from community development programs implemented
by energy and mineral multinationals, such as oil and gas
producers and mining companies operating in remote areas in
Indonesia.

Total E&P Indonesie operates seven oil and gas fields and 500
production wells in East Kalimantan, including Handil, Bekapai,
Peciko, Tambora and Tunu.

Other villagers in East Kalimantan, such as in Muara Jawa Ulu,
close to the company's operations, have also enjoyed a better
standard of living from taking advantage of the company's economy
and subsistence programs. These included programs such as the
provision of a revolving fund and skills training for running a
poultry farm.

Similarly Ilir, the people of Riau regency, Sumatra, have also
benefited from oil companies.

Many young people in Riau, for example, have taken part in
training programs provided by PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, which
operates a number of oil blocs in the province.

One of Caltex's community development priorities is human
resources development, which has evolved over the years since its
establishment in the 1940s.

Caltex found that many young people were unable to go to
school due to either financial constraints or the lack of
educational institutions. Parents wanting to put their children
through senior high school had no other option but to send them
hundreds of kilometers away to North or West Sumatra.

The problem was partly solved when Caltex, in partnership with
the local government, built the first senior high school in
Pekanbaru, the SMUN-I Pekanbaru High School.

Many community leaders and public figures, such as former Riau
governor Saleh Djasit, who is a current member of the House of
Representatives, are among the school's alumni, said Caltex
spokesman Harry Bustaman.

At least 75 schools have been built since 1956 under Caltex's
program, including the most recent, a polytechnic. The school was
designed to meet the province's rising demand for skilled
workers, and opened its doors in 2003.

The world-class polytechnic institution is expected to produce
its first graduates this year, and is managed by the Riau
Polytechnic Foundation. It is expected to become a fully
independent institution by next year.

In Central Java, hundreds of fishermen of Kaliyasa, Cilacap
regency, have received assistance from state oil company
Pertamina.

Under a Pertamina program aiming to empower fishermen through
developing the local economy, the company constructed a
fishermen's port in 1985, about 10 years after it began
operations in the area. The port also has its own fish auction
facility.

Pertamina has also financed housing and infrastructure
projects, building roads, electricity and telecommunications
networks.

When Pertamina started construction of an oil refinery in 1974
and another one in 1981, Tegalkamulyan village was a virtual
ghost town, populated with only a few fishermen living in modest
houses. As its operations took off, the loading and loading feed
activities of oil tankers not only disrupted local fishermen's
work, but also endangered their lives.

The recognition of this issue lies behind the initiative to
construct a fishermen's port.

The port has enabled local fishermen to develop their
business, not only because the facility provides a place to moor
their boats and unload their catch, but because it also functions
as a marketing and distribution center.

The fish business in the area has flourished since the port's
construction, and has turning the previously quiet village into a
bustling hub of the fish industry.

In West Java, dozens of farmers in Balongan, Indramayu, have
received also assistance from state oil company Pertamina.

As part of its community development program, Pertamina allows
the farmers to make use of the 200-hectare buffer zone
surrounding the company's oil refinery and complex.

The buffer zone-utilization project commenced in 1996, not
long after the company's operation unit VI began operations.

"The program gives at least 100 farmers the opportunity to
cultivate the land. They grow rice and other crops such as
watermelon," said the public relations head at Pertamina's
Balongan unit, Suwandi.

The previously idle land has now been turned into productive
land. Watermelon crops, for instance, are harvested twice a year.
"An average of 60 tons of watermelon is produced each harvest,"
Suwandi said.

Local farmers have also utilized parts of the land by turning
it into fish and shrimp ponds.

The community development program implemented by Pertamina's
Balongan operation unit has improved the welfare of local
residents.

"With the additional income, more parents can now send their
children to school," Suwandi said.

The indigenous peoples of Papua have also experienced a
substantial change in their lives since the arrival of gold and
copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia over three decades ago.

The Kamoro of the lowlands, located not far from Freeport's
mining operation in Timika regency, is one such people.

The Kamoro make a living by fishing, but are now running their
own fish business and exporting their fish -- something
unimaginable before.

Freeport, in collaboration with a Kamoro-owned firm, PT
Kapiri, built an ice factory and processing facility to help
Kamoro fishermen develop their businesses.

Under its business development assistance program, Freeport
has also developed an integrated animal husbandry and poultry
production center in the regency's lowlands.

The training programs provided by the gold mining giant have
also enabled many young people in the regency to pursue careers
at Freeport or its contractors.

By the end of 2003, the number of Papuans working at Freeport
and its direct contractors totaled 2,500, of which 250 fill
administrative positions. The figure is a sharp increase from a
mere 600 in 1996 -- the year the company commenced its training
and education program for locals.

The training programs provided more than technical skills
development.

"Training programs range from basic literacy and mathematics
to pre-apprenticeship programs for individuals with no prior
career training, advanced technical apprenticeships, career and
leadership development and business management programs that
provide world-class skills to our workforce," said the company's
sustainable development report.

Meanwhile, the welfare of West Sumbawa population, which is
mostly made up of farmers, has improved following the adoption of
a new farming method introduced by gold and copper producer PT
Newmont Nusa Tenggara.

In the past, farmers were unable to increase productivity
because they relied on traditional farming methods. Most farmers
could only harvest one crop per season due to the minimal
rainfall common to the area, and thus left their land
uncultivated and searched for alternative sources of income.

In response to the farming problem, Newmont provided a
training workshop for at least 200 farmers from 10 villages in
the Sekongkang and Jereweh districts of West Sumbawa. The company
also built an irrigation system to water over 500 hectares of
land, as well as provided seedlings and farming equipment.

"The farmers have a chance to try new techniques at
agricultural field laboratories established in each village,"
said Newmont senior manager of external relations Robert
Humberson.

With irrigation facilities and improved techniques made
available, farmers have increased production and many now harvest
primary and secondary crops.

"Rice production, for example, has increased from 2.5 tons per
hectare to over four tons per hectare," Humberson said.