Chairul Tanjung: No Budget for Lapindo

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Chairul Tanjung, said that compensation for Lapindo mud victims in Sidoarjo, East Java, will not be paid by using the State Budget during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyno's term. "It's impossible. There's no budget," he told Tempo on Thursday, October 2, 2014.

According to Chairul, it is difficult to allocate fund to compensate for Lapindo victims because there are changes in leadership and the current government does not have enough funds. He added that it is hard for the government to look for another solution because its term will end soon. "It will not be solved in just 19 days," he said.

However, Chairul said that SBY's cabinet is ready to hand over Lapindo problem to the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla government. The result of the coordination meeting that has been conducted by the government will enter the budgeting stage and will be discussed by House of Representatives' Budgetary Committee. 

Previously, the government said that it was ready to compensate losses caused by Minarak Lapindo Brantas who is unable to pay Rp. 781 billion of compensation for Lapindo mudflow victims. The funds were previously planned to be taken from the 2015 State Budget, but the Finance Ministry was not able to guarantee whether the funds can be taken from from the 2015 State Budget.

JAYADI SUPRIADIN