TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) head Bambang Brodjonegoro underlined a new capital city would not be developed as a new Jakarta.

“It will become a center of government and business that supporting the central government,” said Bambang in his office, Tuesday, April 30.

In response to a criticism that a new capital would be a quiet town, Bambang assured that it would not indeed be designed similar to the current capital, Jakarta. The population in the new capital is planned to be around 900,000 to 1.5 million people.

”For example Washington DC (United States’ capital), is it generated to match New York? It’s not. Washington is far below New York as the center of business. This is similar to the government’s plan.”

Brasilia has the same condition. As the new capital of Brazil, it has a lower number of population than that of two major cities, namely Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. So Bambang opined the statement that Brasilia was named as a quiet, failed city was a wrong one because it has no goal to rival big cities.

“Brasilia is the third largest city in Brazil,” he noted. “It has 2.5 million people, so it presents economic equality.”

Therefore, Bambang asserted that Indonesia’s new capital would not be developed for 10 million people as that of Jakarta. Even, based on the calculation, the new town would not be listed in the top ten country’s most populous cities.

The plan to move the capital city has again brought up by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in a limited Cabinet meeting on Monday. Jokowi decided to take the third option; moving the capital to outside Java and that must be situated in the center of the country to ease access from all provinces and provide fairness between the western and eastern Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the relocation plan was considered necessary to reduce the burden of Jakarta and its supporting cities, support equality to the eastern area of Indonesia, and change the development mindset from Java-centric to Indonesia-centric.

Additionally, the plan is also aimed to represent the nation’s identity, diversity, and implementation of state ideology Pancasila, enhance the efficient and effective management of the central government, as well as establish a smart, green, and beautiful capital city in a bid to increase the competitiveness, both in regional and international.

CAESAR AKBAR

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