House of Representatives Ratifies State Capital Draft Law into Law

JAKARTA, DDTCNews - The House of Representatives has officially ratified the State Capital (IKN) Draft Law into a law (UU). This regulation will constitute the legal basis for the relocation of the state capital to East Kalimantan.

Chairperson of the House of Representatives Puan Maharani led the decision making by inquiring about the approval from House of Representatives members of ratification of the 2022 State Capital Draft Law into law. Of the 9 factions in the House of Representatives, the PKS faction stated their rejection of the ratification of the Draft Law.

“Because of the 9 factions, only 1 disagrees, this means we agree. Do you agree? Yes,” she said in a House of Representatives plenary meeting, Tuesday (18/1/2022).

The PKS faction considers that the construction of the national capital will result in changes to the environment and forest areas, thereby, threatening the lives of plants and animals in East Kalimantan. On the other hand, the faction highlighted the funding scheme for the national capital project which may burden the state budget.

Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Suharso Monoarfa in his speech representing the government stated that the new State Capital will be referred to as Nusantara. According to him, Nusantara will be Indonesia’s step in responding to future challenges to build a sustainable capital city.

Suharso said that the capital city will be relocated in stages, taking into account the synergies through funding schemes and fiscal sustainability pursuant to statutory provisions.

“The construction and relocation of the state capital will be one of the means to realise Indonesia’s long-term vision of 2045,” he claimed.

The government and the House of Representatives began discussing the State Capital Draft Law after President Joko Widodo sent a letter numbered R-44/Pres/09/2021 on 20 September 2021. Although brief, Suharso said the discussion on the State Capital Draft Law progressed in its entirety.

According to him, not only does the State Capital regulate the specificity, authority and position of organisational units preparing the relocation of the capital city but also regulates various sectors, such as spatial planning, land administration, transfer of land rights, environment, disaster management as well as defence and security. (sap)