Indonesia is struggling to stamp out illegal mining that has ravaged forest land around its new capital Nusantara, in a challenge environmentalists say will test the government’s resolve to enforce the law and rein in powerful mining interests.
The crackdown comes as doubts persist over the future of the 466 trillion rupiah (US$27.8 billion) project – a centrepiece of former leader Joko Widodo’s legacy that now faces waning political support under his successor, President Prabowo Subianto, and a shortfall of state funding and private investment.
Nusantara spans more than 252,000 hectares (622,705 acres), but over 13,000 hectares of forest area have been damaged by “irresponsible hands” that carried out illegal mining and farming, according to Inspector General Edgar Diponegoro, head of the Nusantara Authority for Public Security and Safety.
Unlawful farms damaged 8,338 hectares of forest, while 4,236 hectares were destroyed by illegal mines, he told reporters on October 29.
An under-construction road in Nusantara, the planned new capital of Indonesia, in August. The Nusantara authority has set up a task force to prevent illegal mining and farming in the new capital. Photo: AFP
According to Diponegoro, his task force aims to prevent illegal mining and farming in the new capital, enforce the law on perpetrators, and rehabilitate the degraded lands. Monitoring stations have been set up at 10 locations across Nusantara and are manned by personnel from the Nusantara authority and local residents.
