Government Awaits Complete Study

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

A motorcycle passes by a sign for Bukit Soeharto Taman Hutan Raya in Samboja district of Kutai Kartanegara regency, East Kalimantan. The forest park is located in one of two regencies that have been proposed as the site of the new capital city.

BOGOR, KOMPAS – President Joko Widodo said that the site for Indonesia’s new capital city would be announced at the right time. The government was still awaiting a comprehensive study.

“We will announce it in time. We are still waiting on the study. I have yet to receive one or two studies [on the matter],” the President said at Bogor Palace on Thursday (22/8/2019).

In his state of the nation address, delivered on 16 Aug. during a joint plenary session of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council in Jakarta, the President officially requested permission to move the capital city from Jakarta to the Indonesian territory of Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo.

Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil said that the province of East Kalimantan was among the candidates for the site of the new capital. “East Kalimantan is one of two options that President Jokowi has visited, the other being Central Kalimantan. The National Development Planning Agency is currently preparing the study. Once it is finished, President Jokowi will make the decision,” he said.

Two studies

When asked if the new capital would be located in East Kalimantan, the President reiterated that he was still waiting for two studies to be completed. He did not elaborate on the two studies.

Separately, East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor said that his administration had yet to receive any official notification from the President regarding the location that would replace Jakarta as the new capital. Isran said that he had proposed two regencies, Kutai Kartanegara and Penajam Paser Utara. “I proposed these two areas but Pak Jokowi will have the final say,” said Isran.

Once the location of the new capital was decided and if this was in East Kalimantan, Isran said that he would immediately issue a gubernatorial regulation to prevent land price fluctuations in the selected region. “Once the location is announced, we will determine [the status of] the location as non-commercial to protect it before and after the President’s announcement,” he said.

Earlier, National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said that the new capital would not be established in the Bukit Soeharto Taman Hutan Raya or peatland areas in Kalimantan, in consideration of the high rates deforestation and peatland conversion in Kalimantan (Kompas, 21/8/2019).

Bukit Soekarto is a 61,850-hectare forest park that was established through Forestry Ministry Decree No. 160/MENHUT-II/2004. The highest rate of deforestation since 2000has been occurring in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Penajam Paser Utara Regent Abdul Gafur Mas’ud said that the four districts of Penajam, Kuaro, Babulu and Sepaku in the regency were ready to host the new capital. (INA/CIP/HAR)