Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, Dec 08, 2014
Jakarta. Victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, are one step closer to being compensated for losses — eight years after dozens of villages and hundreds of hectares of farmland were swamped.
Children play on swings on the embankment of the Lapindo mudflow. Victims are still waiting for full compensation from the company accused of triggering the disaster. (JG Photo/Arief Priyono) |
Jakarta. Victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, are one step closer to being compensated for losses — eight years after dozens of villages and hundreds of hectares of farmland were swamped.
The
government announced on Monday that it would buy assets from the company
accused of triggering the disaster, Lapindo Brantas, which could then use the
proceeds to pay out Rp 781 billion ($62 million) due to victims this year.
Minister of
Public Works Basuki Hadimuljono said the government would buy about 20 percent
of the company’s assets, which was mostly land, in affected areas.
The
announcement comes just days after President Joko Widodo — through cabinet
secretary Andi Widjajanto — ordered Lapindo Brantas to wrap up payments to
victims of the mud volcano. On top of the Rp 781 billion owed to residents, the
company, which is affiliated with the family of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal
Bakrie, must pay Rp 500 billion to affected businesses in 2015.
“They still
have around Rp 1.4 trillion to pay,” Andi said. “We’re waiting for it.”
The
government’s decision to buy assets from Lapindo Brantas is bound to raise
questions about why money from the state budget was essentially being used to
compensate a mistake made by the company.
The
government is already required to pay Rp 300 billion compensation to victims
whose land is located outside the map of affected areas. A 2012 judicial review
which sought to have the company cover all compensation costs in areas affected
by the mudflow was rejected by the Constitutional Court.
Andi said
buying the company’s assets was part of the government’s effort to “help”
Lapindo Brantas fulfill its responsibilities.
Lapindo
Brantas was conducting gas exploration in the Sidoarjo area in 2006 when one of
its natural gas wells blew out, causing a mud flow which destroyed hundreds of
homes, swamped 720 hectares of land and displaced thousands of people.
Scientists
blame drilling activities by the company for triggering the eruption, but the
government at the time decreed it a natural disaster.
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Satellite
picture received from Ikonos Satellite Image on May 29, 2008 shows
the mud
volcano and its surrounding area in Sidoarjo, East Java. (AFP/Ikonos
Satellite Image)
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