Economist Expects Indonesia's New Capital City is Kept Secret

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Economist from the Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Piter Abdullah hopes that the government will eventually keep the new location of Indonesia’s future capital city confidential. This is urged by him to avoid attracting speculators into the new region.

 “Most importantly is for the government to keep it a secret. The most important element needed to be considered is how the local residents [in the new area] will benefit from the move,” said Piter on Tuesday, July 30.

He gave an example of past cases where property and land speculators took advantage of such major plan when Jakarta was rumored to be moved to Jonggol.

“This caused speculators to enter the region. They purchased the lands there on a lowball price from locals in hopes of receiving large sums of compensation from the Indonesian government. This has no benefit for the local residents,” said Piter.

Another case comes from Yogyakarta during the region’s airport move, which was strongly protested by Sultan Hamengkubuwono X. “During land acquisition, it turns out that the piece of land at the location is owned by speculators,” said Piter.

MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO