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NGO, locals seek to halt Central Java coal power plant project
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his entourage inspect the 2,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant site in Batang, Central Java, on Aug. 28, 2015. The US$4 billion plant is expected to be finished in 2019. Construction of the project was delayed due to land acquisition problems. (JP/Suherdjoko )
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n environmental group and residents are intensifying their efforts to pressure the government into canceling a US$4 billion coal power plant project in Batang, Central Java as they fear the plant will cause pollution, spur human rights violations and threaten locals’ livelihoods.
The project management’s failure to meet its fifth deadline for financial closures that fell on April 6, unsettled land acquisition and continuing rights violations may help push the scheme to be scrapped, says Greenpeace Indonesia.
“We demand that President Jokowi cancel the project, given the persisting human rights violations and threat to locals’ livelihood in the last five years,” Greenpeace energy campaigner Desriko Malayu Putra told the media in Jakarta on Thursday.
The power plant, touted as the largest in Southeast Asia, is part of President Joko ”Jokowi “ Widodo ' s ambitious plan to add 35,000 MW to the electricity grid by building multiple power plants.
Desriko said the project breached Indonesia’s commitment to tackling climate change.
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) research head Pius Ginting said the power plant project would produce air pollution in its surrounding areas. “The project will release about 10.8 million tons of carbon emissions per year. It will adversely impact the climate, human health and cause environmental damage” he said.
The power plant is the first project to be developed under a public-private partnership scheme involving the government and Bhimasena Power Indonesia (BPI) – a consortium consisting of Jakarta-listed PT Adaro Energy, J-Power Electric Power Development Co. Ltd. and Itochu Corp., which won the tender for the Batang project in 2011.
The project has been met with strong resistance from Batang residents. Many have refused to sell their property to make way for it. Farmers who refused to give up their land have reported cases of intimidation and blocked access to their homes.
Karomat, among farmers who claim to having fallen victim to the project, said the blockade to his property had threatened his livelihood.
“We feel unprotected and left out after access to our farm was blocked. When can we cultivate our land again? The government and businesses should not do this [to us],” he said.
With support from local and international environmental organizations, academicians and activists, the locals have appealed to the Japanese government to use its authority and ask Japan’s Bank for International Cooperation as the main investor to cancel its involvement in the project. (sha/bbn)
