Agricultural Land Conversion Mechanisms, Internal Migrations, and Housing Policy: Case Studies of Industrial Estates in the Northern Cikarang, West Java Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Various researches on agricultural land conversions stepped into the conclusion that those conversions, into housing and industrial land uses, were difficult to be controlled. Housing and industrial functions dominated those conversions on 36% and 20% respectively in the Province of West Java while they correspondingly accounted for 57% and 22% in the Java island. Other notable features of that conversions consisted of the proximity to the economic centers and occurred in rural areas that were located in urbanized regions. This paper identified that land-use change mechanisms have been including internal migrations within their dynamics in which, on the contrary, the supply for migrants’ accommodations has not been appropriately considered as the evidence-based information into the development policy. Cikarang, a prominent District of industrial estates in the Province of West Java, reflected the Central and Local Governments’ underdeveloped capacity in terms of incorporating the mechanism, data and integrating multi-sectoral programs through housing policy. Through random sampling, migrants’ origins in both areas altogether can be figured out as follows: Bogor/Bekasi (2%), DKI Jakarta (2%), West Java (35%), Central Java/D.I. Yogyakarta (41%), East Java (6%), Outside Java Island (11%). The growing internal migrations which accompanied the increasing demand for accommodations were inadequately responded to. While considerable percentage of migrant samples (46-92% in Northern Cikarang) were found to be financially capable for paying monthly rent above the standard costs of public rental housing (Rusunawa) however the housing policy was unable to innovatively design the rental systems which expanded its benefits towards various groups of lower-income and sustain its operational costs. This paper concluded that housing policy, particularly Rusunawa, would be the key where the agricultural land conversions rate can be moderated, and the internal migrations may turn into capital.