Photo: President Joko Widodo inspects infrastructure development for the Archipelago Capital (IKN) area, in North Penajam Paser Regency, East Kalimantan Province, on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. (Photo: Laily Rachev – Press Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat)
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The plan to move the capital city of Indonesia from DKI Jakarta to the National Capital (IKN) of the Archipelago is still ongoing. However, several foreign media have again highlighted several things from this big RI project.
Media The Diplomat in the article entitled ‘Why Will People Want to Live in Indonesia’s New Capital?‘ published on Wednesday (14/3/2023) said the government was still struggling to attract investors, and offered big incentives to increase their interest.
An article written by economic expert James Guild said that deep-pocketed investors who were considering investing in IKN projects, such as Japan’s SoftBank, were reported to have started to cool off. They are concerned about the lack of a concrete vision for the new capital.
“Cities designed and built solely to showcase technology or infrastructure tend to have a poor track record. They are often abandoned or underused because even though the planning reflects high-concept and the structures are sleek and futuristic, there is no compelling reason for people to live there.” ,” Guild wrote.
“If it is to be successful, Nusantara needs to become something more than a green, high-concept smart city with good roads, landscapes and infrastructure,” according to Guild.
“There needs to be something – or things – beyond the physical structure that will draw people in and make them want to live there. This could be a world-class university or a state-of-the-art research and development center or a green industry hub.”
Land Price Surge
Temporary Reuters highlighted the problem of soaring land prices around the IKN, so that the government is considered to be slowly ‘killing’ local residents.
Sukaraja Urban Village Head, Rizki Maulana Perwira Atmadja, said the price of land around his village, or about 10 km from where the presidential palace is being built, has quadrupled.
However, this increase in land prices is like a simalakama fruit. Yati Dahlia from the indigenous Balik tribe in the area, had been trying to buy land somewhere nearby after learning her current house was on the site of a government building that was to be built.
But he said prices had jumped to Rp 700 million to Rp 1.2 billion for a similar sized piece of land outside the main archipelago. This price is up 10 times the government’s compensation for his land and the blue plywood shack where he now sells food.
“We feel (the government) is slowly killing us,” Yati said, as quoted by the media.
Indigenous People Ignored
On the other hand, Algeria highlighted the issue of eviction of indigenous peoples by this ambitious project. One of those affected is Sernai (68) who lives in a village with fellow Balinese indigenous people. The village will become part of the IKN.
“People from the capital are coming. They are pushing us out. They are going to take my house in the end,” he said, adding that he lost part of his house and farmland to the construction of an incoming reservoir for a dam to serve the new capital.
“We can’t even get water anymore because the river is blocked. The river used to be our source of life. We would drink it, bathe there and use it for cooking. Now we can’t access it anymore,” he added.
Sernai said the government gave his family, including his 17 grandchildren, around IDR 46 million in compensation. But that’s not enough to make up for the disruption to their lives.
Meanwhile, tribal chief Balik Sibukdin (60) said several people in his area refused to move because they felt that land was their identity.
“We only ask the government to pay special attention to us,” said Sibukdin who uses one name.
The Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago (AMAN) estimates that at least 20,000 indigenous people will be relocated as development in the Archipelago progresses. Advocacy groups such as AMAN say one of the main challenges for indigenous peoples is to prove land ownership in order to obtain compensation from the government.
(sef/sef)
