Sofyan Djalil: Two Airports will Support New Capital City

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sofyan Djalil, Minister of Agriculture and Spatial Planning or the Head of the State Land Agency (BPPN), said that the new location of Indonesia's capital city in East Kalimantan already has supporting infrastructure, such as airports in Samarinda and Balikpapan.

"Balikpapan and Samarinda are already connected by toll roads, all we need to do if connect them to the capital city," Sofyan said at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs' Office in Jakarta, Tuesday, August 27.

Later, the government will prepare build state roads or toll roads, as well as bridges, so that the airports can be used to support the capital city.

Regarding infrastructure, Sofyan said the exact location of the capital city is not necessarily accessible via toll roads. "Because the city center is not passed by toll roads, but there will be a connection road, which is being worked on," he said.

"We have a national road nearby but it has not connected with the capital city. We will connect it."

Sofyan said that relocating a capital city is a long process.  The most important thing, he remarked, is to create a law governing that process. "What's also important now is that the location has been decided." 

Yesterday, President Joko Widodo announced that the capital city of Indonesia would be moved from Jakarta to parts of North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara Regencies.

"The most ideal location of the new capital city is in parts of North Penajam Paser Regency and parts of Kutai Kartanegara because the two regencies already have ample infrastructure, and the government has a land area of 180,000 hectares there," Jokowi said.

According to the President, the government chose the two regencies as the location of the new capital city because they have minimum risks of disaster.

CAESAR AKBAR