Jokowi: New capital on track
President Joko Widodo has travelled to East Kalimantan and reassured the public that Indonesia’s planned new capital there is on track.

This comes just a day after the bombshell announcement that the leaders of the body overseeing the project had resigned.

Speaking at an event in the city of Balikpapan yesterday, the closest port of call to upcoming capital Nusantara, Joko stressed how the new city is still “in the development process” and that it would be the “greenest capital in the world”.

He noted that as much as Nusantara will be filled with buildings, it will also be filled with green spaces, and that the city will be designed to include city parks as well.

“The dream city of the future... is a... smart city, a creative city, which is liveable,” he said.

His comments in Balikpapan, a two-hour drive to Nusantara, came after news broke on Monday about the resignations of the head and deputy head of the new capital project.

In an Instagram post later that day, Jokowi said that the development of Nusantara will not stop.

“The development of IKN will continue according to the shared vision that has been established,” he said, using the initials of the city’s full name – Ibu Kota Nusantara.

On Monday, Indonesia’s presidential office announced that Jokowi had accepted the resignations of Bambang Susantono, a former official at the Asian Development Bank who was heading the project, and his deputy Dhony Rahajoe, an architect and former real estate developer.

Jokowi has appointed Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono as the acting head of the Nusantara Authority and Vice-Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Planning Raja Juli Antoni as his deputy.

The President so far has not given any reasons for the departure of Bambang and Dhony, which has raised questions about the status of the US$32bil (RM150.5bil) project.

Jokowi travelled to Nusantara yesterday to inaugurate several projects, including schools.

Celebrations for Indonesia’s Independence Day on Aug 17 are also being planned there for the first time.

Jokowi’s pet project to relocate the country’s capital, first unveiled in 2019, has been beset by various troubles, including a lack of private investment and problems with land acquisition.

His government had expected to fund more than half of the estimated costs from private investors and public-private partnerships.

As at mid-November 2023, private investors had pledged a total of US$2.6bil to the project. — The Straits Times/ANN
Indonesia
President Joko Widodo has travelled to East Kalimantan and reassured the public that Indonesia’s planned new capital there is on track.