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Jokowi picks East Kalimantan

Moving to Kalimantan: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announces that East Kalimantan will host the country’s new capital

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, Karina M. Tehusijarana and N. Adri (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta/Balikpapan
Tue, August 27, 2019

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Jokowi picks East Kalimantan

M

oving to Kalimantan: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announces that East Kalimantan will host the country’s new capital. Accompanied by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and several ministers, Jokowi announced at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Monday that the new capital’s construction would start at the end of 2020.(JP/Seto Wardhana)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced on Monday that Indonesia’s new capital city will be located in two regencies in East Kalimantan, with the relocation intended to help ensure the equal spread of development across the country and to take some of the burden off Jakarta, which will remain the country’s economic center.

The location was chosen based on thorough studies the government had conducted over the past three years, Jokowi said.

“As a result of those studies, the new capital will be built in part of North Penajam Paser regency and part of Kutai Kertanegara regency in East Kalimantan,” the President said at a press conference at the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Monday, adding that he had sent a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Bambang Soesatyo informing him of the decision.

The new capital will sit on a 180,000-hectare area, nearly three times the size of Jakarta, with the entire capital relocation process expected to cost Rp 466 trillion (US$32.7 billion), the President said.

National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) head Bambang Brodjonegoro said the government would soon prepare a draft bill concerning the relocation and aimed to finish the planning phase by the end of 2020.

“In 2020, we aim to finish the master plan, urban design, building design and the legal basis for the move,” he said at the press conference. “Toward the end of 2020, we will start construction with the hope the center of government will be moved by 2024 at the latest.”

Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the construction of infrastructure for the new capital would be completed in three phases.

“First we will design the area, the building layout, between 2019 and 2020. Then we will start the design and build phase in mid-2020,” he said.

The construction stage is expected to take about three to four years, while the actual moving of government institutions will occur between 2023 and 2024.

The plan to move the capital from the island of Java was first announced by Bambang in April. The new capital is to act as the center of government, while Jakarta will remain the country’s business and financial center.

A Bappenas team tasked with studying possible locations recommended three provinces in the Indonesian part of Borneo Island, namely South, Central and East Kalimantan, which all fit the requirements to host the new capital, including being free from volcanoes and at relatively little risk of earthquakes.

Shortly after the plan was announced, Jokowi visited two alternative locations in Kalimantan, namely Bukit Soeharto in East Kalimantan and the Triangle Area near Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan.

During the press conference on Monday, Jokowi said the relocation of the capital was necessary because Jakarta carried “a heavy burden” as the center of government, business, finance, trade and services as well as being home to the country’s largest airport and seaport.

“We cannot continue to add to the burden of Jakarta and Java in terms of population, traffic, pollution and water supply,” he said.

Jokowi added that moving the capital had been planned since the time of the country’s first president Sukarno.

“As a great nation that has been independent for 74 years, Indonesia has never had the chance to plan its own capital before,” he said.

Bambang said the relocation was part of the Jokowi administration’s grand strategy to reduce inequality between Java and other regions.

“We started [the policy of] regional autonomy in 2001, when Java’s share [of gross domestic product] was 55 percent,” he said. “Now it has actually increased to 58 percent. That means we need to take extraordinary steps. The equal distribution of infrastructure and the General Allocation Fund [DAU] are not enough.”

Jokowi added that in addition to the capital relocation, the government was also planning to develop six metropolitan areas outside Java, namely Medan in North Sumatra; Palembang, South Sumatra; Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan; Denpasar, Bali; and Manado, North Sulawesi.

East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor, who was also present at the State Palace, confirmed that the city would comprise four districts: Sotek, Semoi and Sepaku in North Penajam Paser and Samboja in Kutai Kertanegara.

He said the location was an ideal site for the new capital as a vast amount of land was already state-owned land. Moreover, the relatively flat terrain and sufficient water resources will also support the relocation.

“The location is also near two existing cities, Balikpapan and Samarinda,” Isran said.

He added that he already had plans to ensure that land speculators and other parties would not make excessive profits from the relocation project by issuing a governor’s regulation.

“The people are very welcoming toward the relocation of the capital [to East Kalimantan]. That is not in question,” Isran said.

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