The House of Representatives has recommended the government include three more villages in its map of areas devastated by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, and compensate residents of these villages too.
Priyo Budi Santoso, deputy head of the House's Monitoring Team for the Handling of the Lapindo Mudflow (TP2LS), on Thursday told a hearing with the government and mining firm Lapindo Brantas Inc. that the inclusion of West Siring, Jatirejo and Mindi villages in the map was based on a recommendation by the East Java governor and Sidoarjo regent.
TP2LS member Azwar Anas said the three villages were not inundated by the mud, but were badly affected by "a lot of gas bubbles", rendering them uninhabitable.
Hot mud began gushing out of a Lapindo-owned gas drilling site in Porong district, Sidoarjo, on May 29, 2006, inundating hundreds of hectares of housing, industrial and farming areas, and displacing thousands of people.
Last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a decree to the Sidoarjo Mudflow Handling Agency (BPLS), ordering Lapindo, partly owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, to compensate victims of four villages included in a March 22, 2007, map of affected areas.
With the affected area increasing in size, the President revised the decree in July 2008 to allow compensation for victims from three more affected areas outside the March 2007 map, using funds from the state budget.
The three villages in concern were Besuki, Pejarakan and Kedungcangkring in Jabon district.
The 2008 presidential decree also orders both Lapindo and the government to pay the compensation in two phases: 20 percent in the first and 80 percent in the second phase.
During Thursday's hearing, Lapindo general manager Imam Agustino said it had completed almost 100 percent of the first phase of payments, and about 30 percent of the second phase by providing houses for the victims.
He said Lapindo would complete full payment of the compensation by March 2010, as ruled in the 2008 decree, and had spent nearly Rp 4.4 trillion in dealing with the disaster and its effects.
At least Rp 1.57 trillion of the money was used to compensate around 12,000 victims, Imam added.
Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto, who chairs the BPLS steering committee, said the government had decided to allocate Rp 1.19 trillion (US$128 million) in the 2009 state budget to deal with the mudflow and its impacts, including compensation for victims.
Speaking at the same hearing, Djoko called for an additional Rp 240 billion to be allocated to complete the second phase of compensation payments next year, and an extra Rp 56.8 billion to help victims in areas not included in the map.
Anni Ratnawati, the Finance Ministry's director general for budgetary affairs, said the government would only be able to disburse the Rp 1.19 trillion after Lapindo had completed its compensation payments, to prevent conflicts among victims.
Anni's comments drew protests from TP2LS members at the hearing. They urged the government to immediately complete compensation payments to the three villages in Jabon district, and not wait for the completion of Lapindo's payout.
The TP2LS team also told the government to incorporate compensation for the three newly recommended villages in the 2009 state budget.
