Indonesia is all but certain to move its capital city from Jakarta, with the Ministry of National Development (Bappenas) already outlining plans to start the process within the next few years.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Bappenas head Bambang Brodjonegoro said that once plans for the move are finalized, the government can begin building infrastructure at the chosen site for the new capital between 2021-2023, with the goal of starting the move by 2024.
“So later the president himself will announce [the finalization of the plans] this year. That will include the location,” Bambang said, as quoted by Detik.
“In 2024 the process of moving will begin.”
As for the location, the government has heavily hinted that the new capital will be in Kalimantan. President Joko Widodo himself visited the island in May specifically to survey possible new capital cities and revealed that Balikpapan and Palangkaraya to be among the frontrunners.
The Indonesian government has long discussed the possibility of moving the nation’s capital to another city in the archipelago, which could potentially help solve many of Jakarta’s most pressing urban problems (traffic, pollution, overpopulation, etc) as well as lead to more balanced economic development for the country if the capital was moved outside of Java.
The idea to relocate the capital was first proposed by the country’s founding father, President Soekarno, who suggested that the central government’s base of operations be moved to Palangkaraya in 1957. President Jokowi’s government was the latest administration to revive the idea, first publicly announcing relocation plans in 2017, and seem to be the one who could actually pull it off in Jokowi’s all but assured second term in office after he won last April’s election.
