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Jokowi lays symbolic foundation for new capital
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the ceremony marked another milestone in the ambitious relocation project and represented a unification of the country at the site of Nusantara.
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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, along with provincial leaders and several Cabinet ministers, gathered on Monday in North Penajam Paser regency, East Kalimantan, to partake in a symbolic ceremony to bless the development of the nation’s new capital Nusantara.
The ceremony was held at the Kilometer Zero site at the new capital, where each provincial governor or their representative took turns in adding soil and water, symbolizing the archipelago of Indonesia, to a gold-plated container.
Out of the 34 governors summoned to join the President in the ceremony, six were unable to attend, including Bali Governor I Wayan Koster and Papua Governor Lukas Enembe, sending their deputies in their stead.
Jokowi said Monday’s ceremony marked another milestone in the ambitious relocation project and represented a unification of the country at the site of Nusantara.
“We’re gathered here in the context of a great ambition and a major endeavor, that we will soon start the development of Nusantara,” he said.
The President said the unification of soil and water from all the provinces symbolized the archipelago’s diversity and unity.
“This is a symbol of our strong diversity and unity in order to build the capital of the archipelago,” said Jokowi.
“The collaboration between the central government, regional administrations, the Indonesian Military, the National Police, the private sector and the entire community represents significant support so that we can realize our aspiration.”
Jokowi and his entourage, which included State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono and Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, went on to spend the night in Nusantara.
They stayed in modest tents set up on a site located about 2.7 km from the Kilometer Zero site, accompanied by East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor.
The ceremony in Nusantara was held a few days after Jokowi swore in Bambang Susantono and Dhony Rahajoe as the head and deputy head, respectively, of the new capital city authority, as the government stepped up its preparations to relocate the capital to East Kalimantan.
The ceremony also marked the first time Jokowi visited the site of the new capital after the House of Representatives passed the 2022 Capital City Law in January, which provides the legal basis for the relocation of the seat of government to East Kalimantan.
Jokowi has expressed his goal of celebrating Indonesia’s 79th independence anniversary in 2024 at his new office in Nusantara along with four ministries, namely the Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Home Ministry and Finance Ministry.
Nusantara will be located on 256,000 hectares of land in an area straddling North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regencies. According to the current plan, the project will cost Rp 466 trillion (US$32.7 billion), 19 percent of which is expected to be financed from the state budget and the rest is expected to be financed through investments from the private sector and foreign investors.
On Friday, the founder and CEO of Japan-based SoftBank Group, Masayoshi Son, backtracked on a commitment to invest in the project, Bloomberg reported, a move that represented a major blow to the government’s efforts to attract private sector capital into the project.
Jokowi announced the relocation to East Kalimantan in 2019, citing the need to reduce the burden on flood-ridden and traffic-congested Jakarta, which currently serves as the country’s administrative hub and business center.
While expressing his support for Jokowi’s ambitious project, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said it was unrealistic to expect a vision of a city to be realized in a matter of years.
“If we look at the history of cities, they all begin with a vision. Now, that vision can be completed in 10 years or 100 years. It’s not realistic to expect it to be realized in under 10 years, it will take time. People should not expect it to be completed in a matter of 3-5 years,” the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)-educated architect said.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the relocation would be an opportunity for Jakarta, which will lose its capital status, to accelerate its development.
“Jakarta is still the largest metropolis in the southern hemisphere and [the relocation] must be used as an opportunity to accelerate the main elements of a global city, including population mobility based on environmentally friendly public transportation,” he said.
West Papua Governor Dominggus Mandacan highlighted the proximity of the new capital to West Papua and expressed the hope that it would facilitate greater coordination between the West Papua administration and the central government.
“We support the development of the new capital city in East Kalimantan with the hope that [the project] will be soon finished,” said Dominggus.
“I hope in the future, [the relocation to Nusantara] will make it more affordable for us to [go to the new capital] to deal with various administrative affairs, including in interacting with [the president] and relevant ministers,” he said.
