Sibukdin Lokdam, the Head of Indigenous People of Dayak Balik Sepaku Lama, revealed that in the past six months, at least 20 houses along the banks of the Sepaku River have been demolished.

According to the explanation from the Nusantara Capital City Authority (IKN), settlements located along the riverbanks need to be cleared for the purpose of normalizing the Sepaku River in Penajam Paser Utara Regency, East Kalimantan, to ensure that the new capital city is not prone to flooding.

The demolishing of the houses was part of the IKN Authority effort to mitigate the flood that often occur during heavy rainfall in the Sepaku region. It is highly likely that the entire area of Sepaku Subdistrict, Pemaluan Subdistrict, Bukit Raya Village, and Binuang Village along the Sepaku River will be submerged.

On the other hand, the abovementioned areas were designated as the Core Government Center Area (Kawasan Inti Pusat Pemerintahan - KIPP) of the Nusantara Capital City.

Floods then and now

Sibukdin admitted that floods frequently occur in their area. This is a result of deforestation caused by timber industry corporations in the upstream area, which has disrupted the river's flow for years. Flooding used to happen once every two or three years. However, condition has become worse since the IKN project started.

Pandi, a 50-year-old resident of Sepaku Subdistrict, experienced a similar issue. Every time it rains, his house is almost always flooded.

Pandi argued that the main cause of the flood is the construction of water control systems or clean water intakes for the IKN project. "The construction of concrete-walled intakes has caused water to be obstructed from flowing and has resulted in stagnant water," said Pandi.

Acting Executive Director of the East Kalimantan branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Fathur Roziqin Fen, explained that the flood issue in IKN cannot be solved solely by river normalization.

Fathur stated that the flooding in the Sepaku area is caused by extractive industries that have altered the forest and land landscape in the upstream area of the new capital city. "Based on our study from 2018 to 2021, the IKN area has lost 18,000 hectares of forests," Fathur said.

Impact on indigenous people's rights

In addition to natural disasters, Eko Cahyono, a researcher from the Sajogyo Institute, discovered the impacts of the Nusantara Capital City development is also related to social ecology damages.

During his research, he discovered that indigenous communities, who are the minority in Penajam Paser Utara Regency, are being affected with IKN development.

He claimed that the government tends to overlook the sociological aspects of the local residents in Penajam Paser Utara Regency, particularly the Balik indigenous community.

Furthermore, he argued that the development of the new capital city has been carried out without fully respecting the rights of the local community. Eko believed that the government is merely offering relocation to new villages without guaranteeing the indigenous people's rights to customary land.