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Capital city relocation will burden state budget: Lawmaker
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People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Zulkifli Hasan (right) speaks to fellow lawmaker in Jakarta on Jan. 11. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A.)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been advised to delay his plan to relocate the capital city from Jakarta to another city outside of Java because it will place a burden on the state budget.
“The construction of roads in Java and Sumatra is not finished. Not to mention other infrastructure projects like power plants and irrigation lines,” said People’s Consultative Assembly Speaker Zulkifli Hasan.
“Our state budget is very limited. We have to focus on [these projects],” said Zulkifli, a lawmaker and chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
Previously, National Development Planning Board chief Bambang Brodjonegoro said his organization was tasked with completing the study on capital city relocation this year so that the construction of infrastructure to support the new capital could start next year.
(Read also: New capital city sought to replace jam-packed Jakarta)
Meanwhile, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said infrastructure such as government offices, a mass public transportation system, drainage systems and housing would be needed for the new capital.
“The number of civil servants for the central government reaches up to 900,000. They need houses,” Basuki said as quoted by tempo.co on Wednesday.
Bambang said the government would minimize the use of the state budget for the relocation process. The government will invite private companies to take part in the development of the new infrastructure.
“We are formulating the scheme: cooperation between government and private entities,” he added. (bbn)
