TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo predicts the government will spend no more than Rp100 trillion to construct Indonesia’s new capital city in Kalimantan. As he said the rest will be obtained through the private sector.

“I surely expect this to be calculated in detail regarding how much the government must spend. But from my observation, the government will not spend more than Rp100 trillion,” said Jokowi in opening the meeting on the capital city move at the Presidential Office on Wednesday, January 15.

The funding will mainly be used to establish the city’s basic infrastructures and government clusters, which will be done by the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry (PUPR). This budget includes the construction of a new presidential palace and state-ministry headquarters.

Apart from the core construction projects, the government will implement a public-private partnership, either through government business entities or private sector investments.

East Kalimantan, where the new capital city will be, has seen 256,000 hectares of land prepared for this ambitious project. Added with the land for research purposes, the total area amounts to 410,000 hectares. However, Jokowi said only 56 hectares will be used for the core location.

EGI ADYATAMA