Lapindo to continue bearing costs of mitigating Sidoarjo mud flow

Jakarta, NU Online
Private oil and gas drilling company PT Lapindo Brantas Inc. will continue to  bear all the costs to tackle the impact of the uncontrollable mudflow in Sidoardjo although there are proposals that the government bail the company out, a cabinet minister said.

Public Works Minister Joko Kirmanto made the statement after meeting  Vice President Jusuf Kalla in the company of Marine Resources and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi to report on the work of the Sidoarjo mudflow mitigation team.

About a proposal made by a few House of Representatives (DPR) members that the government provides PT Lapindo Brantas with bail out funds, Joko said certain consequences would be faced if the proposal was accepted.

"What does it mean, lending it funds or assisting it with funds. If the govenment takes over the problem, certain standards must be met such as in the Aceh and Yogyakarta disasters," he said as quoted by the national news agency Antara.

Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Aceh on December 26 two years ago.

About 4,000 people perished in the Yogyakarta earthquake on May 27 this year.

Meanwhile, Marine Resources and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said finding a solution to problems caused by the uncontrollable mud flow in Sidoarjo required time.

On the proposal to bail out PT Lapindo Brantas, Freddy said it needed further clarification.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani had said previously neither the amended 2006 State Budget nor the Draft 2007 State Budget included  a special fund allocation  for the handling of the Lapindo mud flow disaster.

She said if the country was hit by a calamity, the responsibilty for tackling it lay on the shoulders of  the National Coordinating Board and the Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare.

The Lapindo hot mud  inundated or destroyed homes, paddy fields, factories and public faciliities in eight villages in three subdistricts in Sidorajo district.

On Wednesday last week 10 people were killed when a gas pipe built under a dike to contain hot mud in a relief well exploded causing parts of the dike to collapse and the mud to spread over a larger area. (dar)