Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Disruption in service continued on the Surabaya-Gempol turnpike Thursday from a fourth breached embankment from the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java.
As the turnpike operator worked to make the road passable, visiting State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said a controversial plan to dispose of treated mud would go ahead.
After being closed for two straight days, the turnpike was back in partial operation by 4:50 p.m. Thursday, allowing only the passage of vehicles from Surabaya to Gempol.
The head of the Surabaya-Gempol service subdivision of turnpike operator PT Jasa Marga in Surabaya, Stephanus Prasetyo, said the road was partially opened to ease the backup of vehicles in the area.
He said the mudflow spill started to subside in the morning after work to repair the damaged embankment, which broke early Tuesday. Embankments, reaching several meters high and built to shield unaffected areas from the mudflow, are made from earth and gravel.
"Although the turnpike is back in operation, we can't be sure whether tomorrow (Friday) it will remain open or it will have to be closed again, because the condition of the embankment is dangerous and prone to damage," Stephanus said.
The massive mudflow from a May 29 leak at Lapindo Brantas Inc.'s gas exploration site has displaced an estimated 10,000 residents in nearby Porong, forced the closure of factories and disrupted the distribution of goods in East Java.
The foul-smelling hot mud now covers 180 hectares; environmentalists, calling it a manmade ecological catastrophe, estimate it has caused US$1 billion in damage to the area. They say Lapindo should be prosecuted under the country's environmental laws.
The government's proposal to dispose of the mud before the onset of the rainy season has alarmed residents and environmental activists, who deride it as a desperate stopgap measure.
Under the original plan, the mud would be treated, with the water dumped into the sea and the sediment disposed at sand mines in nearby Mojokerto. However, the Mojokerto regency administration has not issued a permit for the disposal.
But Rachmat Witoelar said in Sidoarjo on Thursday that the plan to dump the water into the sea would be realized despite the protests.
He assured that the liquid would be free of any poisonous substances after treatment. "The plan to dump the mudflow's water into the sea will go on after it has been treated and studied by the state minister of environment's office. If we decide to dump the water into the sea, then it means the water has no more poisonous substances."
He added: "People who reject the plan aren't clear about what they're rejecting". The disposal might begin in six months' time, he said, after the construction of water treatment facilities and dams around the gas drilling site were completed.
A former chairman of the Indonesian Geologists Association, Andang Bachtiar, said the continuing uncertainty about solving the problem should partially be blamed on the central government.
He believed it was indirectly responsible for compensation to affected residents based on its legal contract with Lapindo. "If Vice President Jusuf Kalla says that Lapindo will cover everything, it's merely a political excuse," he said, referring to Kalla's earlier pledge while visiting the mudflow victims.
Andang said the US$70 million spent by Lapindo since May was paltry compared to its income from running the gas wells. "So up to today, Lapindo still can afford paying compensation to residents and its other operational costs," he told The Jakarta Post.
A Lapindo human resources official, Sebastian Jafar, said the company could still afford to cover all operational costs and compensate affected residents. "... but we are conducting a financial efficiency program".
Although he did not elaborate, reports said the company's cost-saving measures including limiting phone use and accommodation expenses for its staff of experts.