June 3, 2024
JAKARTA – Bambang Susantono has stepped down from his position as head of the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority, which is in charge of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ambitious project to build the new capital city in East Kalimantan.
“The President has received the resignation letter from Bambang,” State Secretary Pratikno said on Monday at the Presidential Palace complex.
Bambang’s deputy Dhony Rahajoe has also resigned, according to Pratikno.
Bambang and Dhony were appointed the head and deputy head of the IKN Authority in March 2022.
Questions remain as to why they resigned and who would fill the positions.
The resignation comes as the government has been pushing to move the national capital from Jakarta to Nusantara in August, replacing the overcrowded and rapidly sinking Jakarta.
The government plans to relocate a handful of cabinet members to Nusantara as early as July. This will be followed by a bigger wave of relocations in September that will see almost 12,000 civil servants calling the country’s new capital in East Kalimantan home.
In recent years, the government has been making aggressive promotions for the Nusantara project, whose funding has been designed to mostly rely on public-private partnerships and private investments, with less than 20 percent of costs shouldered by the state. (ipa)