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Indonesia bids to host 2036 Olympics in eventual capital
President Jokowi raised the stakes of the new capital city project in Kalimantan by announcing Indonesia's official bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympic Games in Nusantara.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo attends the Group of 20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali on Nov. 15. On the sidelines of the summit, the President announced Indonesia's bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympics. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo this week announced Indonesia’s formal bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympics in the currently unbuilt new capital city of Nusantara, raising the stakes on infrastructure development as well as reforms in the sporting sector following the tragic death of hundreds of people in a post-soccer match stampede.
Jokowi revealed the decision on the margins of the Group of 20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali on Wednesday.
“I hereby announce Indonesia’s readiness and willingness to host the 2036 Olympics in the capital city of Nusantara,” the President said in a televised statement.
At a separate press conference alongside International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, Youth and Sports Minister Zainuddin Amali reiterated the bid.
“We are very serious about it. We’ve had experiences hosting multidisciplinary sports events, and they were all successful,” said Amali.
In a little over a decade, Indonesia has hosted the 2018 Asian Games and the 2011 SEA Games, but aside from being considerably smaller in scale, these events were held in Jakarta and Palembang, two existing major cities with the necessary supporting infrastructure.
While construction for the new capital city project had already commenced in July, doubts still remain over the megaproject’s future after Japan’s Softbank Group withdrew its funding support in March. With approximately 80 percent of the project’s proposed funding to come from non-state investors, the government announced in October various tax incentives to lure additional financing.
