Jakarta financial district
The Indonesian Government , chaired by Joko Widodo, announced last Monday that it hoped to begin construction of its new capital by the end of 2020.
The place chosen to install the new capital? East Borneo, the second largest province in Indonesia.
So much President Joko Widodo –known as Jokowi– and the Indonesian National Development Planning Minister, Bambang Brodjonegoro, responded to journalists' questions about the capital change and then issued the corresponding official statement.
“All preparations are expected to be completed by the end of 2020 – the Masterplan, the urban design, the bill – and the transfer process is expected to be completed by 2024 at the latest,” Bambang announced.
Jakarta traffic
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN JAKARTA?
Joko Widodo pointed out that the three main problems facing Jakarta are traffic, overcrowding and flooding.
The population of Jakarta amounts to more than 10 million people, concentrated in an area of about 661 square kilometers. In its metropolitan area, Jabodetabek, live 30 million people.
The Indonesian president noted that the weight of the island of Java, where Jakarta is located, is 150 million people (more than half of the country's population).
In addition, the floods of this zone, caused by the extraction of subterranean waters, also constitute a serious problem due to the ground subsidence , to which road congestion and pollution are also added.
Flooding in Jakarta is a serious problem
WHERE WILL THE NEW CAPITAL OF INDONESIA BE?
Joko Widodo announced that the country's capital will be moved from Jakarta to an area situated between the regencies of Kutai Kartanegara and Penajam Paser Utara, both in East Kalimantan province.
East Kalimantan, also called East Borneo , occupies about three quarters of the island of Borneo and the Derawan Islands. It has 3 and a half million inhabitants and an area of 129,000 square kilometers.
In addition, the new capital will be located close to the two main cities of East Borneo: Samarinda (the provincial capital) and Balikpapan (an oil city that has two important ports).
It is also an area of “minimal risk” of disasters such as tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, according to what the president pointed out last Monday.
Sofyan Djalil, Minister of Agriculture and Territorial Planning, reported that the government will ensure an area of 180,000 hectares to locate the new capital.
“As soon as the location determination has been issued, we will proceed with the placement process. land freeze so that there is no speculation about them," said Sofyan.
Because most of it is state land, The task of acquiring land for the relocation of the capital is relatively easy, "although land acquisitions will also have to be carried out in accordance with the current law," he added.
For now, it is unknown what the name will be of the new capital of Indonesia.
Samboja, a tropical forest area near Balikpapan
THE TRANSFER PROCESS
According to the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing, Basuki Hadimuljono, the construction of the infrastructures of the new capital will be carried out in three phases.
First, the layout of the area itself: "After determining the location, the design of the area and the RTBL (Environmental and Construction Planning) will be carried out, which we hope to complete in 2019, or at the beginning of 2020," explained Basuki.
Second, it will develop basic infrastructure: “roads and water –including dams–. As early as 2020, we will start designing and building," added Basuki.
Finally, it will start the construction of the buildings, beginning with the governmental ones, phase that, in principle, is scheduled for mid-2020.
“The construction as such will last 3 to 4 years, about. Roads, bridges, reservoirs, water, sanitation, and buildings must be completed; with forecasts of having concluded everything between 2023 and 2024”, Basuki pointed out.
Jakarta, on the island of Java, has more than ten million inhabitants