Govt to Build New Capital City on 300,000-hectare Land

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister/National Land Agency (BPN) chief Sofyan Djalil said the country’s new capital would be established on a 300,000-hectare land plot belonging to the state so as to lower construction costs.

“Yes, as much as possible [the capital is built on state land]. If possible, all of the areas. So the construction costs and land clearance costs will be minimum,” Sofyan told a press conference at his office, Friday, May 3.

Sofyan explained the government would still need money to prepare the land, such as for cut and fill, “[while] the cost for land clearance will be almost zero.”

Sofyan, however, was non-committal when asked about the most potential location to be transformed as the new capital.  “We have identified three to four regions. Those areas have met the requirements,” he added. One of the possible areas is located on Kalimantan Island. 

Read: Jokowi Prefers to Move Capital outside Java Island

He added the location of the new capital should also be free of disaster risks—despite the present rarity of areas that were 100 percent free of disaster potentials.

“Generally, our spatial planning is very concerned about disasters. So we are making plans for areas that are prone to disasters so there will be less in the future. We cannot shun disasters,” he added.

The planned relocation of the country’s capital again seized the public spotlight after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo convened a limited cabinet meeting on the issue.

In the meeting, Jokowi chose to take the alternative of removing the capital outside Java Island. 

CAESAR AKBAR