Residents Worried About Capital City Relocation Plan
The environmental carrying capacity, land issues, to the clarity of the protection of the rights of residents around the location of the new State Capital (IKN) in East Kalimantan are still unanswered.
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Farmers in Karya Jaya Village, Samboja District, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, are planting rice in paddy fields that are fed with water from the Samboja Reservoir, Tuesday (5/11/2019)..
Many people living in an area to be used as the location of the country’s new capital city are worried they will no longer be able to use their land and other properties after the House of Representatives finally approved a new State Capital Law (IKN Law).
According to the IKN Law, the new capital city will cover an area of 256,142 hectares of land and 68,189 has of seawater. The area includes the districts of Sepaku and Penajam in North Penajam Paser regency, and the districts of Samboja and Muara Jawa in Kutai Kartanegara regency.
However, there are still land overlapping problems in several locations, such as in Karya Jaya village, Samboja. From the total area of 1,005 ha, 81 percent of the area is part of the Bukit Soeharto Grand Forest Park (Tahura). A total of 124 ha of land have been certified, but of that number, 114 certified ha are located in the Soeharto conservation area, which is designated for conservation and forest education.
“We are currently taking care of the land titles, but the news that the capital city will be relocated to East Kalimantan worries us. This agrarian issue is one of our concerns,” Karya Jaya village Wahidin said on Sunday (30/1/2022).
According to data provided by Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency, Karya Jaya village was used as a transmigration area for residents from West Java and western Central Java during the 1957-1972 period. In 1975, a number of transmigrants received land titles and certificates of ownership.
At that time, the village area was only bordered by the Bukit Soeharto park. However, in 1978-2017, the conservation area was expanded from only around 33,700 ha to about 64,814 ha. As a result, most of the land owned by transmigrants in Karya Jaya village was included in the conservation area.
Since President Joko “ Jokowi” Widodo announced the plan to relocate the nation's capital to East Kalimantan, according to Wahidi, the local government has never formally explained the relocation plan to local residents. In fact, the villagers have a myriad of concerns regarding the land they have occupied for decades.
“We are afraid that our land will not be recognized. In fact, those who already have a land certificate have difficulty when they want to pass it on to their children because [the land] is included in the Bukit Soeharto conservation area," he said.
We are afraid that our land will not be recognized.
Such a problem makes it difficult for the people to maximize the use of their land. A 3-ha plot of land owned by Ahmad Ribut, 68, a Karya Jaya village resident is included in the Soeharto conservation area.
“Only part of the land has been opened for farming. It has been used for farming since the 1950s. The other parts have not been opened. If the other trees are cut, we could be punished because it is part of the forest conservation area,” he said.
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Samboja Reservoir in Samboja District, East Kalimantan, Monday (21/10/2019). This reservoir is used for irrigation and to fulfill the raw water needs of the people in Karya Jaya Village and Wonotirto Village..
Ahmad hopes that residents like himself will have legal certainty over the land they own. He also hopes to find out whether his land would be affected by the new capital city construction plan. Meanwhile, based on attachment I to the IKN Law, Samboja district will be part of the new capital city.
The East Kalimantan government is still waiting for further discussion following the passing of the IKN Bill into law. East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor ensured that the rights of residents who lived around the new capital city would be guaranteed.
"They will not be disturbed even though they live in an area to be used as part of the capital city. There will be an arrangement for the residential area and infrastructure, but they will not be dispelled; of course not," he said.
Mining Pits
The problem of large pits left behind by coal mining companies has not been properly settled by the government. According to a survey conducted by the East Kalimantan Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), there are at least 149 mining pits in the location of the new capital city. Of that number, 57 are located outside coal mining concession areas. Jatam believes that these were made by illegal mining. The other pits are located in concession areas owned by mining companies.
During a visit to East Kalimantan on Sunday (30/1/2022), Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said that the mining in the former mining areas would be “handled” immediately.
"The government is preparing for reforestation, environmental restoration and everything related rehabilitation works for post-mining operations," Siti said during an interview at the Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman International Airport (SAMS) in Sepinggan, Balikpapan.
She said that in the last three years, the Environment and Forestry Ministry had conducted a study on how to rehabilitate former mining areas. Based on the studies, the ministry would arrange a technical survey on how the rehabilitation efforts would be carried out.
“[Operators] of illegal mines and plantations must be handled. They will not be able to escape. If they do not carry out post-mining programs as stated by the law after three years of transition, they will be subject to criminal sanctions," the minister added.
Responding to this, Jatam activist Pradarma Rupang said that after the passing of the IKN Bill into law, the public had the right to know how the government would rehabilitate the damaged environment.
Rupang urged the government to immediately take legal action against mining companies who ignored their obligations to close the mining pits resulting from their mining activities. He also asked the police to arrest the people involved in illegal mining activities.
This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.
