President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has agreed to a current plan to massively renovate Sentul International Circuit so it could later host the much-anticipated Moto GP racing series. Despite the support, Jokowi said the major renovation would be fully financed by private sectors.

“Indonesia is a huge market for motorcycles. There are at least 12 million motorcycles across the country. We could further develop the automotive sports industry and the entire trickle-down effects,” Jokowi said on the sidelines of his visit on Tuesday.

Hosted by senior racer Tinton Suprapto and his son, Ananda Mikola, who is also a racer, Jokowi and his entourage were shown around the circuit. Tinton said the renovation project would be entirely funded by homegrown private sectors. However, he did not elaborate further on the details of the plan.

Commenting on the plan, Ananda Mikola said there was a good chance that the whole renovation could be completed a year ahead of the original schedule, which is 2021.

“We expect the renovation to be completed by 2020 because the entire infrastructure is already there,” Ananda said.

The Sentul circuit renovation plan was put on hold for at least two years because the government had failed to see any guarantee of project completion. In 2016, Youth and Sports Deputy Minister Gatot S Dewobroto said the government still opened discussions with Tinton regarding the continuation of the project despite the lack of guarantee.

When asked for updates on the project, Gatot acknowledged that he had just been made aware of the plan from the media. Therefore, he added, he would need more time to seek information before making a full statement.

Sentul International Circuit was among the country’s ambitious projects in the past. Construction started in the 1990s and when operational was officiated by then-president Soeharto in 1993. The country’s largest circuit, 4.12 kilometers long with 11 turns, began by hosting several international events like Superbike and Moto GP from 1995-1997.

Big names in Moto GP, such as living legend Valentino Rossi, Michael Doohan and Max Biaggi, raced and grabbed medals there.

In 1995, it was nominated to be one of the hosting circuits for the Formula One racing series, after Australia.

Tinton was then quoted as saying that actually Indonesia had been nominated several times before by Formula One to host the prestigious event, but the country refused due to the absence of local racing figures. However, the 1998 economic crisis then became the major obstacle for the circuit’s management to host any international events.

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