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Govt says capital city relocation will resume
After more than a year’s delay, the plan to relocate the nation’s capital to East Kalimantan will proceed, the government has said, with the first order of business being to formalize the legal framework for the construction of the new city.
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Dio Suhenda
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
After more than a year’s delay, the plan to relocate the nation’s capital to East Kalimantan will proceed, the government has said, with the first order of business being to formalize the legal framework for the construction of the new city.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced the resumption of the plan, which had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, on a one-day trip to East Kalimantan on Tuesday. During the visit, he inspected a section of the Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road, which is expected to connect to the site of the new capital.
“The new capital agenda will proceed as planned,” Jokowi said on Wednesday, adding that the government was preparing road access to the site to enable the city’s construction.
Jokowi said he had visited the province to personally inspect the construction of public facilities that would support the new capital, among other agendas. The facilities include proposed upgrade to existing seaport and airport.
Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, who joined Jokowi on the visit along with Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, said he supported the President’s relocation project.
“We need to have the courage to relocate the capital, to separate the center of government from the center of business and trade,” said Prabowo. “I think the plan has been assessed carefully.”
It was first time after the project’s postponement last year that the government acknowledged its intention to proceed with the relocation.
National Development Planning Minister Soeharso Monoarfa said in September 2020 that work on the new capital had been postponed, as the government had made tackling the COVID-19 pandemic its priority.
In 2019, the President announced that the nation’s capital would be relocated from flood-ridden and traffic-congested Jakarta to East Kalimantan. The new capital city is to be situated in a 256,000 hectare area straddling the regencies of North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara.
The project is expected to cost Rp 466 trillion, with the government set to finance 19.2 percent, or Rp 89.4 trillion.
A day after his visit to East Kalimantan, the President raised the same topic at a meeting with the leaders of his coalition’s constituent parties, who appeared to support the government agenda.
NasDem Party secretary-general Johnny G. Plate said after the meeting that the government was not in a rush to proceed with the relocation plan, as its priority remained mitigating the impact of the pandemic.
He added, however, that the government was preparing legislation to serve as the legal framework for the relocation.
“We are aware that we are still in the middle of the pandemic, which carries significant risk for the economy, but we still need to start preparing for the capital’s relocation,” said Johnny, who is also the communications and information minister.
“Our first priority is to prepare the primary legislation, and the coalition parties will join hands to contribute in the deliberation process for the legislation on the new capital city.”
A bill outlining the creation of the new capital has been proposed for deliberation in this year’s National Legislative Program (Prolegnas) priority list. The President, however, has yet to send an official letter to lawmakers to mark the start of the deliberation process.
