Majority of experts doubt capital city move ever be realised: Survey

Detik News – June 6, 2022
CSIS Department of Politics and Social Change head Arya Fernandes – Undated (Detik)

Eva Safitri, Jakarta – The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has released a survey on the perceptions of experts about the construction of the new capital city (IKN) in East Kalimantan. The result, as many as 58.8 percent are not convinced that the IKN will proceed in accordance with the government's target.

The survey was conducted between March 29 and April 12 using a total sample of 170 people made up of researchers, academics, journalists, bureaucrats and politicians.

The data was collected using face-to-face interviews with 110 people and the remaining 60 were interviewed virtually. Quality control was ensured through enumerator recruitment, training, data collection through to the validation and verification of data.

CSIS Political and Social Change Department head Arya Fernandes said that more than 50 percent of respondents were not convinced that the construction of the IKN will be realised. More than 60 percent of experts also believe that the state budget (APBN) will not be enough to fund the IKN.

"The experts' level of pessimism about the IKN program is quite high. (As many as) 58.8 percent of expert respondents are not convinced that the IKN program will be realised. And 69.4 percent of expert respondents believe that the APBN will not be able to fund the program", said Fernandes on Monday June 6.

In addition to this, the survey also revealed a perception on the part of experts who are not convinced the problems in Jakarta will be resolved after the capital city moves.

These problems include, among other things, traffic congestion, urban slums, flooding and access to clean water. The majority of respondents stated that they are not convinced these problems will decline.

"The majority of expert respondents are not convinced that Jakarta's problems will ease after Jakarta is no longer the country's capital city" he said. (eva/jbr)

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Survei CSIS: 58,8 percent Ahli Tak Yakin IKN Berjalan Sesuai Target".]

Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-6113657/survei-csis-588-ahli-tak-yakin-ikn-berjalan-sesuai-target