PUPR Responds To Anies Baswedan's Criticism About The IKN Project Not Solving Capital Problems, Here's What He Said

Secretary General of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Zainal Fatah. (Photo: Theresia Agatha/VOI)

JAKARTA - Secretary General of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Zainal Fatah responded to the IKN development which was considered not to solve the problems in DKI Jakarta.

As is known, the presidential candidate (readpres) number three Anies Baswedan said that the IKN project does not necessarily solve problems in the capital city such as congestion, air pollution and so on.

Adding to public transportation, parks, electric-based public transportation development is a solution to overcome the current problems in Jakarta.

"So, don't we imitate the Dutch government. They have the Old City, when the Old City goes down the surface they move south to make it around Monas, it's abandoned. The problem is not solved. We have to face problems by solving it," Anies said in a debate for the 2024 Presidential Candidate at the KPU RI Building, Jakarta, Tuesday, December 12.

Anies said that in Kalimantan there are still many problems that need to be resolved, such as damaged schools, railway lines, and intercity toll roads.

Related to this, Zainal also emphasized that his party will continue to follow what has been assigned to his ministry.

"The Ministry of PUPR's job is to do what it is told, yes, we do it. Right, we have the task of preparing basic infrastructure," said Zainal after being met at the Creative Infrastructure Financing Day event entitled "3 Bold Actions: Breakthrough Closing Gap Infrastructure Funding" at the PUPR Jakarta Ministry Building Auditorium, Wednesday, December 13.

Zainal assessed that the Ministry of PUPR was only assigned to complete the mandate that had been assigned by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and contained in the law.

"The important thing is that the PUPR Ministry is targeted to be completed next year, yes, we will finish it," he said.

Furthermore, said Zainal, the budget allocation for the IKN project has not been added until now.

"In fact, we are now working on the rate set. The allocation is already there next year. Until now, we have not seen (there is an increase in the portion of the state budget), yes, that's what we received in the state budget (file), we are running it," he concluded.