P

roperty giant Bakrieland Development, the nation’s largest land bank owner, is ready to start developing a 35,000-hectare satellite city in Jonggol, West Java, which earlier this year was mentioned as a potential candidate for capital city relocation.

Bakrieland president director Hiramsyah S. Thaib said Monday that 13,000 hectares of the total 35,000-hectare land bank in the Bogor area of Jonggol was available for development, and the firm would start the first stage of construction of 200 hectares in 2011.

“This is huge. Jakarta is 67,000 hectares, so the total land bank is half the size of Jakarta. And the 13,000 hectares of available land is bigger than Bogor city and is equal to Bandung city,” Hiramsyah told a press briefing at the Rasuna Epicentrum marketing office in Jakarta.

In the first construction phase of 200 hectares of land in Jonggol, Bakrieland will develop residences and supporting facilities, including a school, he explained.

Twenty-five hectares of the land have been donated to the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) to be developed as a training center and base camp with complete facilities for the national team. The donation was announced on Monday by the PSSI, after the Indonesian team showed a stellar performance throughout the 2010 AFF Cup.

The government is discussing the possibility of relocating the capital city to another area in an attempt to reduce Jakarta’s severe traffic. Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan and Jonggol in West Java are said to be options for the new capital.

In the future, Hiramsyah said, a theme park will be built at the 20-to 30-year project. “The theme park could be more than 50 hectares.” Bakrieland has been reported to be in talks with Disney to build an Indonesian Disneyland, but Hiramsyah declined to comment when asked if the Jonggol theme park would be Disneyland.

“We believe that a theme park has prospects in the future, as people have other needs other than basic food, clothing and shelter, which are health, entertainment and education,” he said.

Development of the Jonggol satellite city is among Bakrieland’s priorities in 2011, with project costs totaling up to Rp 2.5 trillion, Rp 1 trillion of which is for toll roads and the remaining for property.

Other than Jonggol or Disneyland theme parks, Bakrieland has another theme park project in the area of Lido Lakes in Bogor, West Java. “Development of the 50-hectare Lido theme park will be started in 2012,” Hiramsyah said.

Bakrieland plans a total of Rp 2.5 trillion for its project costs next year, Rp 1 trillion of which will be for toll road development of its subsidiary, Bakrie Toll Road, and the remaining for its property projects, he added.

“Rp 750 billion of the funds will be taken from our internal cash account, another Rp 750 billion from a standby loan facility from banks and the remainder from bond issuance,” Hiramsyah said, citing an issuance of between Rp 500 billion and Rp 1 trillion in bonds in the first half of 2011.

Bakrie Toll Road will also launch an initial public offering between the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, to finance development of five new toll roads on Java Island. “We will off-load a 20 to 30 percent stake in the offering,” Hiramsyah said. (est)