Sandiaga Uno Upholds Capital City Move but Remains Critical

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former Jakarta deputy governor and presidential election candidate Sandiaga Uno said that the national plan to move Indonesia’s capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan should be reassessed and studied further as he argues the move will not immediately boost society’s economy.

“There are more essential issues that exist currently, such as economic independence,” said Sandiaga Uno through his personal Instagram account on Monday, August 26, at the same day the president announced the location of the new capital.

The government is eyeing to conduct the groundbreaking starting in 2021 and will be continued with the gradual process of moving to the new location starting in 2023.

Moreover, Sandiaga Uno maintained that he is not in the position of rejecting the move, and is only urging the government and other stakeholders to cover each and every area involved in the move and reminded that it should not add to Indonesia’s state debt.

“It needs to be studied in-depth on how much it will cost, how it will be funded, who will it profit, and in terms of its urgency, where does it stand in the priority scale,” said Sandiaga Uno who once proposed it to be a referendum.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO