July 11, 2024
JAKARTA – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has decided to postpone his plan to work from the country’s future capital Nusantara in East Kalimantan after key infrastructure projects, such as water supply and electricity, have so far failed to meet their July completion deadlines.
The Nusantara Capital City (IKN) is Jokowi’s mega relocation project, and his administration has been racing to complete it before the outgoing leader steps out of office in October.
Jokowi last month announced his plan to start working from his new office in Nusantara in July, when the first construction phase of government buildings was due to finish, just a month before a grand Independence Day celebration is expected to take place in the new city.
But Jokowi has reconsidered the plan because basic infrastructure was not yet ready.
“If the water is ready, if the electricity is ready, if the place is ready, we will move there,” Jokowi told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of an event at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in Jakarta.
“I have received [a report from the Public Works and Housing Ministry which said that Nusantara] is not yet ready.”
Asked by reporters when he will officially relocate the country’s capital from sinking and congested Jakarta to Nusantara through the issuance of a presidential decree, Jokowi said his administration is not looking to rush it.
“The presidential decree could be signed before [the August Independence Day celebration], it could also be signed after October [once I step out of office]. Everything depends on the conditions in the field, we don’t want to force something that is not yet [ready],” Jokowi added.
On Friday, head of the Nusantara construction task force, Danis Sumadilaga, said that progress on the presidential palace had reached 92 percent and that the remaining construction yet to be finished has so far been hampered by heavy rain, Tempo reported.
He also said that authorities would begin running tests for water outlets and irrigation in Nusantara throughout the second week of July, and that projects to build toll roads connecting Nusantara to Balikpapan and housing for civil servants would be completed in the coming weeks.
While it remains unclear in what state Nusanatara will be when Jokowi steps out of office, the inauguration of Jokowi’s successor, Gerindra Party chairman and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) will reportedly take place at the House of Representatives complex in Jakarta.
“The event is scheduled [to take place] at the House compound,” Coordinating Economic Minister and Golkar Party chair Airlangga Hartarto said on Tuesday, as quoted by Tempo. (dds)