New Capital City Development Focuses on Empowering Domestic Products

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government symbolically signed a contract for the infrastructure development of the new capital city of Nusantara (IKN) on Monday. Head of the National Public Procurement Agency (LKPP) Abdullah Azwar Anas said the new capital, which will be relocated to East Kalimantan from Jakarta, will not only cover physical infrastructure but also the growth of new economic areas. 

“As the orders from President Joko Widodo, the LKPP has issued a new regulation overseeing the infrastructure, goods, and services procurement guideline, which will mainly focus on domestic products and MSMEs,” Anas wrote in a statement on August 29.

LKPP also appreciated the Public Works and Housing Ministry (PUPR) committing to accommodating and optimizing PDN and UMK-Cooperatives in the development of the New Capital in the future.

“For example, marble does not need to come from abroad. Then air conditioners, lamps, and so on used in IKN must be produced domestically. This is in accordance with President Jokowi's directives, including involving MSMEs and Kalimantan business people," he said.

He said that the development of the New Capital of Nusantara is not merely a matter of physical relocation of the capital city, but more importantly the transformation of the paradigm of an inclusive country, including in terms of the procurement of goods/services that impact economic equality.

Anas also said that the development of IKN is a momentum to leverage Indonesia's ability to rise from the economic downturn in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

"We have to be optimistic. Currently, the economic recovery is on track," he said.

MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO

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