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View all search resultsIndonesia sets eyes on East Kalimantan for new capital
With an international airport and a seaport, the province is more promising than Central Kalimantan, which is consisted of vast fire-prone peat forests.
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An aerial view of Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road that divides Bukit Soeharto, East Kalimantan, is taken on May 7, 2019. The government said the forest park, which is named after the country's former dictator Soeharto, is among the most favorable locations to become a new capital city. (Tribun Kaltim/Fachmi Rachman )
F
ollowing the trips of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to Kalimantan in his quest to find a new capital city, the government has inclined to pick Bukit Soeharto in East Kalimantan, which is seen as a more favorable option.
With an international airport and a seaport, the province is more promising than Central Kalimantan, which is consisted of vast fire-prone peat forests.
National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the only weakness of East Kalimantan was that several areas near river upstreams were prone to floods and lack of clean water system.
The location in Central Kalimantan, he said, is too far from the seaport, had limited availability of groundwater resources as there was only river water available, and had peat in most of its areas that are vulnerable to forest and land fires.
Bambang said the government might have to build parts of the areas in Bukit Soeharto, which is registered as a conservation area, but said that it would not take all parts of the hill.
According to a 2007 forestry ministry regulation, Bukit Soeharto has been declared a grand forest park, which functions as a conservation area.
“It is impossible for us to fully develop the protected area [...] It is possible to use the land around the hill so that it will later become a part of the city’s territory […] The President has committed to protecting the hill,” Bambang said.
