Locations to be converted into transmigration areas should be free of both legal and social problems, according to Villages, Disadvantaged Areas and Transmigration Minister Abdul Halim Iskandar.

“Transmigration land should be 2C, specifically clear and clean,” the minister noted through a written statement on Thursday.

“In addition, it should be 3L, which are livable, business worthy, and development worthy, so that it could become a new economic center and be beneficial for transmigrants,” he remarked.

Iskandar stressed that all lands that will be converted into transmigration areas have to fulfill these criteria.

The land provision status in the development of transmigration land is a crucial matter, he affirmed.

“If the issue on transmigration land is not resolved, it would cause problems and conflicts. The ministry is very concerned about this,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, the Ministry’s Transmigration Area Development Director General, Aisyah Gamawati, noted that it was planned to convert Sukamara, Central Kalimantan, into one of the areas for transmigration development in 2022.

The transmigration location was proposed to the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs as a cavendish banana plantation area to support the export-oriented horticultural area development program.

“We proposed two transmigration areas. We proposed Wina District in Southeast Sulawesi, and during our earlier discussion, we proposed Sukamara,” she explained.

She affirmed that several administrative processes were underway and targeted to be completed in the near future.

Sukamara District Head Windu Subagio welcomed the plan to develop the transmigration area in his region.

He is optimistic that cavendish banana would become a profitable commodity for his region.

Sukamara is a hilly region replete with minerals, sand, and swamp. Any commodity can be planted on the land in the district.

It will be difficult to plant banana in Sukamara, but the government will strive to do it since palm oil cannot be planted in the transmigration area, although it would be easier, he remarked.

“We will prepare the location because we do feel that we need other commodity,” he noted.

Source: Antara News