Govt Explores Potential of Crowdfunding for New Capital Project

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of the new capital authority (IKN) Bambang Susantono spoke about the potential of crowdfunding as one of the channels of financing the state capital project. Community participation is considered to create good development of the new capital city in East Kalimantan.

“It is possible to be financed through crowdfunding. We are exploring any creative funding models,” said Bambang in an interview at Tempo headquarters, Monday, March 21.

In order to attract the public to take part in the financing of the IKN development, he argued, the State Budget (APBN) plays a quite vital role as an anchor so as to build trust among potential investors.

According to Bambang, the project will gain market trust in the next three years, and investors or the private sector will put in a large amount of investment.

“They want to see the government’s seriousness,” he said, adding that based on his experience in the Asian Development Bank (ADB), multilateral institutions make an investment when there is quality insurance.

Bambang further pinned hopes that in the next two to three years, the new capital development will mainly start using funds from the State Budget which will serve as leverage to encourage market confidence. “We can't go wrong with this initial capital,” he said.

Read: Indonesia, Saudi Arabia New Capital City Investment Talks Continue

HENDARTYO HANGGI