TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday paid a visit to the Mentawir nursery, which is located in the area of the future new capital city of Nusantara (IKN). The tree seeds from this nursery will be used in reestablishing the natural ecosystem not only in the city but also in the entire Kalimantan area.

“This nursery will later produce roughly 20 million seeds annually,” said the President at the IKN on February 23.

He said the plant seeds cultivated at the Mentawir nursery are endemic to the island such as meranti (shorea), camphor lime, and also some trees in Kalimantan that are on the brink of extinction such as sungkai. Jokowi also mentioned reviving the natural landscape that was used as mining and reclamation areas.

"The IKN area where previously there were only monocultures, such as eucalyptus, will later be filled with plants from here plus fruit trees added later," Jokowi said.

In the same event, the Minister of Environment and Forestry (LHK) Siti Nurbaya said the ministry would build a natural tropical rain forest in the IKN area through a public-private partnership scheme.

"We will plant native and endemic plants. Of course, there must be fruit trees to attract birds and animals," said Siti.

The Mentawir Nursery, said Siti Nurbaya, has a total area of 120 hectares. However, currently, only 30 hectares are used, of which 16 hectares are used for nurseries and the rest are used for ponds by the Ministry of PUPR. Until now, the area of the reservoir that is submerged in water only covers 7 hectares.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH

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