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Lawmakers to start deliberations on new capital city bill in November
House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad confirmed on Thursday that the House leadership had obtained the presidential letter confirming the handover of the new capital city bill and that legislators will start work on it once they return from recess in November.
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One of the biggest challenges in relocating the capital will be financing. The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) predicts that the relocation of the capital requires at least Rp 466 trillion (US$32.7 billion). (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
P
rogress on the nation’s new capital city has been ramped up after the government handed over the draft bill on the new capital to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, along with the presidential letter to confirm it, marking the start of the legislative deliberation process.
House Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad confirmed on Thursday that the House leadership had obtained the presidential letter and that lawmakers would start deliberating the matter once they returned from recess in early November.
“After the recess period we will determine whether to appoint a commission or a [special committee] to lead discussions on the capital city bill,” he told reporters on the margins of the meeting, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Dasco was reluctant to share his opinion on which commission should lead deliberations, saying that it would be decided by the House Steering Committee (Bamus).
Lawmakers go into recess at the end of next week and are scheduled to return in early November.
Previously, National Development Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa and State Secretary Pratikno handed over the President’s letter to the House leadership.
Suharso said the bill comprised 34 provisions detailing the government’s vision and how it plans to organize and manage the multiple stages of development, as well as how the project is to be financed.
