IKN Not A Priority In The Prabowo-Gibran Era, Focus On Food Swasembada

President Prabowo Subianto. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Public Works (PU) Dody Hanggodo revealed that the construction of the capital city of Nusantara (IKN), East Kalimantan, was not a priority in the era of President Prabowo Subianto's leadership.

Dody said that his party was asked to support the food self-sufficiency program in order to prepare Indonesia's food security.

The reason is, the current global economic condition is also in turmoil.

"Oh, there has been no (challenging about IKN during cabinet meetings). IKN is still the priority, right, now self-sufficiency in food," Hanggodo told reporters at the DPR RI Building, Jakarta, Tuesday, October 29.

The man who has a business background explained that his party was asked to build infrastructure that supports the performance of the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) to encourage Indonesian food production.

"The obligation (Ministry) to support the President (Prabowo) is self-sufficiency in food, meaning support from the Ministry of Agriculture. Including, water self-sufficiency," he said.

However, Dody did not know further whether there would be an additional budget to support the construction of the new capital city.

"Later, (the discussion) has not yet reached there," he added.

Meanwhile, IKN is one of the 7th flagship megaprojects of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo or Jokowi. The construction of the new capital city has begun around 2022.

However, until now, President Prabowo has not shown his seriousness in continuing the development of the archipelago.

This was seen when Prabowo delivered a state speech after the inauguration at the Kura-kura Building, Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Sunday, October 20.

He discussed various issues in the speech which lasted almost 30 minutes. He discussed ranging from poverty, corruption, food self-sufficiency, energy to subsidies. However, in the speech, Prabowo did not mention the development of IKN.