The government will start the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Batang, Central Java, at the end of this month despite protests by local people who say the project will affect the fertility of their land.

The Batang power plant, the first to be built using a public-private partnership (PPP), had been put on hold because plots of land for the project were in dispute.

To settle the land issue, the government invoked the 2012 Land Acquisition Law, which enables land procurement in the name of public interest.