Residents lift tollway blockade, insist on compensation for land

Residents on Friday lifted a blockade of the Pondok Pinang-Serpong tollway after the Jakarta Police promised to help them resolve a long-standing land compensation dispute.

Jakarta Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan said they would organize a meeting between Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto, state toll road operator PT Jasa Marga and residents to discuss the problem at police headquarters on Monday.

"We promise to facilitate a meeting between the protesters, minister and Jasa Marga at the city police headquarters if the residents are willing to lift the blockade," Raziman told reporters.

The protesters then pulled down the tents and removed banners and bamboo poles used to block the tollway since Thursday morning.

Raziman said the protesters agreed to send eight representatives to meet with the minister and Jasa Marga to discuss compensation for their 1,727 square meters of land that was taken over for the tollway.

Residents, however, remain skeptical the meeting will end a dispute that has been dragging on for four years.

"They will return to the turnpike and continue the blockade should Jasa Marga fail to fulfill its promise to pay Rp 3.5 billion in compensation for my clients' land," said the lawyer representing the residents, Andi Rivai.

About 200 residents of Sawah subdistrict, Ciputat district, Tangerang, began their blockade of the turnpike on Thursday morning.

The action caused a massive traffic jam on the Bintaro-Pondok Pinang side of the tollway, with cars forced to perform U-turns and use alternative routes.

The protest was organized by the family of H. Isa bin Baman, who owned the 1,700 square meters of disputed land.

They say the land was purchased by Jasa Marga for the turnpike project in 1997 but that they never received the money for the land.

In response to the turnpike blockade, Minister Djoko Kirmanto said his office had placed Rp 3.5 billion compensation money with the South Jakarta District Court to be disbursed to the residents.

He said if there were disputes over the ownership of the land, the money could not be paid out.

"Therefore, we leave it to the court. The court will decide who deserves to receive the compensation," Djoko said after a limited Cabinet meeting led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at Halim Perdana Kusuma airport before his departure for Australia.