The first Formula E race in the country, initially scheduled for June 6, has been postponed indefinitely following an announcement from the Jakarta provincial government.
According to an official letter addressed to Formula E’s organizer PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) and signed by Governor Anies Baswedan on Monday, the decision to postpone was taken due to the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
“Observing the development of COVID-19 in many parts of the world especially in Jakarta, we hereby postpone Formula E, which was initially scheduled for June 2020,” the letter reads, as quoted by Kompas.
Last year, Governor Anies secured Jakarta the right to host one Formula E race each year for the next five years. The National Monument (Monas) was chosen to host what was supposed to be the country’ first electric-powered car race due to its iconic landmark status, and the planned racing track was going to be built within the area as well as on Medan Merdeka Selatan street.
Following some permit wrangling, the State Secretariat only granted its approval to the race organizer in early February.
Anies had also recently announced that his office will not be issuing new permits for events that gather large numbers of people and those that have already been issued will be reviewed again due to the “urgent situation” of the coronavirus outbreak. A number of concerts have also been canceled as of last week.
Indonesia now has 27 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country after the government announced eight new cases yesterday evening.
