Residents Of The Foot Of Mount Gede-Pangrango Demo At The Cianjur Regent's Office Urge To Reject Geothermal Projects

CIANJUR - Hundreds of residents living in a number of sub-districts at the foot of Mount Gede-Pangrango, Cianjur, West Java, visited the Cianjur Regent's office. The crowd demanded Mohammad Wahyu Ferdian reject the geothermal or geothermal power plant project.

Perwakilan massa aksi Deden Patra, mengatakan mereka menuntut janji Bupati Cianjur Mohammad Wahyu Ferdian saat kampanye akan menolak pembangunan geothermal yang masuk Kecamatan Pacet dan Cipanas karena dapat merusak lingkungan.

"People under the foot of the mountain think the project will damage the environment and can invite disasters, this was also conveyed by the Regent of Cianjur before being elected to reject and fight geothermal projects with the community," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, December 10.

However, when the public complained about his fate and asked for his promise, the Regent of Cianjur was not there.

A number of community leaders expressed their disappointment through speeches under the strict supervision of the TNI/Polri security forces, Cianjur Satpol PP, and Cianjur Transportation Agency.

They assessed that the existence of the project could damage nature in the Mount Gede-Pangrango area, especially when Cianjur was shaken by an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 in 2022 which destroyed the villages with 600 people.

"We are very disappointed by the Regent who promised to fight and refused not to dare to be present in front of the people who had chosen him, but for us, when there is a project under the foot of the mountain which is feared to trigger a disaster, we will continue to reject it," he said.

The masses will continue the same action against geothermal to the West Java Governor's office in Bandung, with the hope that the Provincial Government will reject the construction of a geothermal power plant under the foot of Mount Gede-Pangrango.

Meanwhile, the video of the Cianjur Regent Mohammad Wahyu Ferdian's promise when the campaign again went viral on a number of social media stated that he would refuse and fight geothermal development at the foot of Mount Gede-Pangrango with tourism development.

He promised to make the mountain foot area in Pacet and Cipanas sub-districts a tourist destination like the Mount Bromo tourist area in Central Java and other mountains in Indonesia.