TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said that areas affected by Pertamina's oil spill are mostly located in Karawang and Bekasi. In total, 11 villages are suffering from the damages caused by the spill.

“There are nine villages in Karawang, and two in Bekasi Regency," he said after meeting with Pertamina officials, the Regent of Karawang, and the secretary of Bekasi Regent in Bandung, August 2.

Ridwan said that the oil spill will be handled in two stages as agreed. The first phase is the emergency response measures to clear the spilled oil, which is estimated to take two to 2.5 months.

This first phase is done whilst waiting for the closure of Pertamina's oil well in Karawang's offshore. "Pertamina has hired a global company that has experiences in shutting down leaked wells," he said.

According to Ridwan, Pertamina also promises to find a solution to compensate villagers whose income are affected by the incident. One of those solutions is to hire fishermen to help clean the oil spill.

The second phase is recovery, which is estimated to take up to six months after the emergency response period is declared over. Among the recovery efforts to be done include repairing locals' shrimp and milkfish ponds, repairing the damaged mangrove forest, and the salt farms.

Pertamina EP president director Nanang Abdul Manaf said Pertamina is addressing the matter very seriously. Even though there are 11 villages affected, he said Pertamina is prepared to conduct recovery measures in more than 11 villages.

Ahmad Fikri (Contributor)