Indonesia names new Nusantara headquarters if councilors return | Political Issues

The $ 32.5bn project will move the Indonesian capital from the densely populated, polluted and sinking Jakarta to the sparsely populated Borneo Mountains.

Indonesia’s parliament has passed a law relocating the capital from Jakarta to a forest area on the island of Borneo.

A new law by the government, approved Tuesday, provides a legal framework for President Joko Widodo seeking $ 32.5bn megaproject and outlines how his development will be delivered and managed.

The president chose the name of the new city – Nusantara, the Javanese name for the Indonesian islands.

“The new center has a central role and is a clear symbol of the country, as well as a new economic powerhouse,” Minister of Planning Suharso Monoarfa told parliament following the passage.

‘Super hub’

Plans to relocate the government to Jakarta – a city of 10 million people suffering from chronic disturbances, floods, pollution, and drowning due to rising groundwater – were welcomed by several presidents, but none have been achieved so far. .

Jokowi, as the president is best known, at first announced the plan in 2019, but progress was delayed by the COVID-19 epidemic.

His government considers the new center to be a “state-of-the-art facility” that supports the medical, health and technology sector and promotes sustainable growth across Java Island, the most populous country in the country.

Today, 54 percent of Indonesia’s 270 million people live in Java.

The site of the new capital, about 2,000km (1,250 miles) northeast of Jakarta, crosses North Penjam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara in the Kalimantan region of Borneo, with a population of 900,000. It is located in the heart of Indonesia, in an area that has never before experienced a natural disaster that often affects 17,000 large islands.

The government has set aside 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of the rehabilitated city, and Jokowi has already said that relocating the administration will take ten years. The government provides 19 percent of the $ 32.5bn in revenue, and the rest comes from state-owned enterprises and business finances.

The value of this value includes new government offices and approximately 1.5 million civil servants’ houses.

But critics say there has been little public debate on the plan, with environmentalists fearing the move could accelerate deforestation of monkeys, sun bears and tall nose monkeys, and increased pollution from coal mines. and palm oil factories.

Nusantara – which is following the establishment of new cities in countries such as Brazil and, more recently, Myanmar – will be headed by senior officials whose positions are similar to those of the prime minister, according to Saan Mustofa, deputy vice-chairman of the special bill bill.

Other candidates for the post are former research and technology minister Bambang Brodjonegoro and former Jakarta ambassador Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok.