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Paying the price of development: Kediri villagers suffer amid airport project
Refusing to be bought out, villagers living near Kediri's upcoming first airport in East Java have to contend with pollution and dwindling incomes
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Siti Anggirawan can now only sell to neighbors since the airport developers blocked off road access leading into the village. (JP/Arief Priyono)
I
n December 2021, Kediri, East Java, will welcome Dhoho airport. The first-ever Indonesian airport to be fully funded by the private sector, its construction has not been without controversy. Specifically, its land-acquisition process has created friction with local residents, many of whom are unwilling to move from their homes.
The blazing-hot air mixed with swirling dust stifled everything. The roar of engines from construction vehicles was endless as Tugiyem, who lived in the area, stared at the mountain of dredged rocks in front of her.
"It's been a year of listening to this cacophony [from the airport construction], every day, from day to night. It's as if they never rest," the 77-year-old said.
Tugiyem is one of the few villagers left in Mbandrek Selatan, Grogol, Kediri -- one of a number of villages purchased by PT Gudang Garam for the airport construction project.
Tugiyem used to work as a grazier. She had to stop after the company fenced off the land that she usually worked, which used to be a rice field. Her livestock are dying because she can no longer feed them on that land.
Desperate, she would try to enter the land anyway, climbing through the fence, but the challenge became too much.
