Capital City Relocation Must Not Affect Forests: Bappenas
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6 May 2019 18:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Chief Bambang Brodjonegoro said the planned relocation of the country's capital city would not affect forests, and that the new capital would adopt a green city design.
“For sure, we want the move not to affect the environment, which is why we are looking for locations near existing cities,” said Bambang at the Presidential Staff office in Jakarta on Monday.
The Indonesian government has yet to unveil the exact location of Jakarta’s replacement and maintains that the location must be “legally available so as to minimize land procurement costs and land disputes,” he said.
Read: Capital City Move, Bappenas: Distancing from Dutch Colonial Past
Other than land availability, Bappenas underscored the government must avert social conflict by, among them, opting for a location whose locals were open to new cultures.
Another element is that the new capital must be free from natural disaster risks.
The State Land Agency (BPN) Head previously confirmed that the new capital city would be built over a 300,000-hectare state-owned land plot for cost efficiency reasons. Kalimantan is among the options.
CAESAR AKBAR
