TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government through the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) on Tuesday said that it promised that the construction of the new capital or IKN will not evict local communities despite broadening the core capital area from 5,600 hectares to 6,700 hectares.

“[Evictions] will not happen. We will provide human resources development programs and other programs similar to that,” said Bappenas head Suharso Monoarfa at his office in Central Jakarta on January 25.

Suharso assures that the IKN construction will respect locals' rights for their space and has disseminated the government’s plan to prevent land-use conflicts.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) previously reported their findings of 256,100 hectares of land area inside the new capital plan that is not empty land space. The East Kalimantan Walhi representative Yohana Tiko said communities aboriginal to the area have lived in these spaces since 1963.

Tiko fears the capital city relocation, along with the transmigration of people to the IKN site will potentially see original settlers evicted from their land.

“This can potentially create social conflicts with local residents who have close-knit tenurial history to the place,” the East Kalimantan Walhi director wrote.

Walhi worries that the massive sudden move will potentially affect over 185,000 people living in four sub-districts that will be changed to a special area for the new capital.

Read: New Capital to Sit on New Province-Level Area in Eastern Kalimantan

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA