“Residents ‘not ready’ for Jatigede dam”, 29 June 2015

Residents impacted by the Jatigede reservoir project in Sumedang regency, West Java, have asked the government to postpone the dam filling process, scheduled to begin on Aug. 1, until the project’s social impact on each family has been calculated. Didi Nurhadi, head of Cipaku village, Darmaraja district, said that even though the social impacts on 1,238 households affected by the dam had not been solved, the government had started to distribute compensation and cash assistance on Friday…“Now [families] have received Rp 29 million for the loss of their houses, but they don’t know where to move out to. It’s not because we reject the dam development,” he said. The dam filling process will submerge at least eight villages. Three villages will be fully submerged while five others will have some cattle-grazing plots left dry…Separately, Sumedang Deputy Regent Eka Setiawan admitted that the compensation program remained beset with problems, but urged residents to submit their complaints to the committee responsible for the payment of compensation and cash assistance…