The plan first emerged during a meeting last week between the governor and a council special committee to deliberate the province's guidelines for urban development in spatial planning (RTRW), Ridwan said.

“Basically, Bandung’s condition is similar to that of Jakarta; it is no longer fit to serve as the center of [West Java] administrative,” Ridwan said as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.

The governor said the offices of regional working units (SKPD) were not centralized, resulting in difficulties and low productivity. “We will conduct a study [on the plan] over the next six months,” he added.

The West Java administration has made the provincial RTRW until 2029, which includes the development of Rebana — a new economic zone covering Cirebon, Patimban and Majalengka — transportation route management and an agreement to conduct a study on relocating the province’s administrative capital, Ridwan said.

Three locations have been proposed to host the new capital city, namely Tegalluar in Bandung regency, Walini in West Bandung regency and areas around the Rebana economic zone.

The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, which is currently being built, will have stations in Tegalluar and Walini.

Rebana — a new economic zone under development — will bring together 11 special economic zones in Cirebon, Kertajati in Majalengka and Patimban in Subang, Ridwan told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

Kertajati is home to a large international airport while Patimban has a major seaport that will begin operating later this year.

"There are many indicators that will need to be reviewed, [such as] risks, accessibility, economic condition, water availability and so on," Ridwan said.

Council special committee head Herlas Juniar said, however, the committee had not included the plan in the province's RTRW as there had not been further discussion on the plan.

He added that the council was open to deliberation on the plan once further studies had been conducted, especially on the feasibility of the three proposed locations.

Tegalluar, for example, is prone to flooding and land subsidence even though it is close to Bandung city, while some parts of Walini are located on the active Lembang Fault, he said.

"Kertajati is not prone to disaster, but further studies are required before it is chosen it as the new capital city," he said. (ars)

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