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Visitors flock to Nusantara as new city opens to public
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Soldiers stand at the ready during the 79th Indpendence Day ceremony at the ceremonial field in Nusantara, East Kalimantan on Aug. 17, 2024, the first time the future capital city hosted the Independence Day event. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
T
he opening of parts of Nusantara to the public following years of closed-door construction has whipped up enthusiasm and drawn visitors, including foreign tourists, to the country’s future capital in East Kalimantan.
Some 300 visitors on the opening day on Monday awaited their turn to hop on the electric shuttle bus that would take them to the city, often seen as the legacy project of outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and which made its debut during the Aug. 17 Independence Day celebrations last month.
Ayu and her family from Balikpapan, some two hours’ drive from Nusantara, were among the first visitors on Monday. She told Kompas.com that she and her family had made the trip from the coastal city in the early hours of Monday morning.
“Since the new palace is close enough to Balikpapan, I took advantage of this opportunity. In my opinion, the development of Nusanatara must continue, because it turns out that after I saw it, the progress has been so significant,” she said.
The Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority announced on Sunday that Ceremony Plaza and Kusuma Bangsa Park inside Nusantara would be open to the public every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a maximum of 300 visitors a day.
To take a tour of the city, visitors need to register themselves on a Nusantara-dedicated app called IKNOW and take the electric shuttle bus that will drop them at the station near the plaza and the park where they can walk around and enjoy the scenery.
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