June 6, 2024
JAKARTA – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo plans to start working from the new capital Nusantara in July, as he seeks to reassure the public that the development of his legacy project remains on track despite the surprise resignation of the top two officials of the new capital’s project management agency.
The stakes are high for the incumbent leader to push ahead with the relocation project in East Kalimantan before he leaves office in October, both as a means to maintain his clout and make good on a decades-old idea before interest dissipates.
Jokowi was in Nusantara this week, where he inaugurated several projects and checked on the new presidential palace in an apparent attempt to appease concerns about the future of the new capital, which has been hampered by a lack of foreign investment, land ownership issues and delays.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at the construction site of the new palace, Jokowi appeared confident that he would move to Nusantara as early as next month once clean water is available in government buildings.
“God willing, [the palace] will be finished. [I am] very optimistic about the office. We are still waiting for one thing: the water. The water will be [ready] in July,” Jokowi said.
“We have already inaugurated the Sepaku [Semoi] Dam. Now we are waiting for the pumps to raise the water and then distribute it to the buildings and the houses in Nusantara,” he added.
With a capacity of 16 million cubic meters, the dam, which the President inaugurated on Tuesday, is expected to supply potable water to the future national capital and the neighboring city of Balikpapan.
Jokowi made the journey to Nusantara on Tuesday after news broke a day before about the resignation of technocrats Bambang Susantono and Dhony Rahajoe from their posts as head and deputy head, respectively, of the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority, which oversees the construction of Nusantara.
The abrupt resignations have cast a shadow of uncertainty over the fate of Jokowi’s Rp 541 trillion (US$33 billion) new capital city project, on which he has expended massive political resources to get up and running.
In his working visit over the past two days, Jokowi has moved fast to officiate several educational projects, including schools, such as Gunadarma University, Summarecon Al Azhar Islamic school and Bina Bangsa school.
The President has also launched business centers in the new city, such as the Astra Biz Centre and the Nusantara Sustainability Hub, which is expected to attract global companies and other universities interested in developing a green and sustainable economy in the country.
Jokowi took several members of his cabinet on Wednesday to inspect the construction of the new presidential palace, where he is expected to host the inauguration of Nusantara during the Independence Day celebrations on Aug 17.
“The arrangements for Independence Day are almost complete. There are no issues. We thoroughly checked everything from the venue locations to the order of the ceremonies, and everything went smoothly,” Jokowi said.
“Therefore, the construction here will be ready by mid-July, and we will start preparing for the Aug. 17 celebrations,” he added.
Previously on Tuesday, Jokowi claimed that Nusantara would receive “a big investment” from the United Arab Emirates in the coming months.
The ambitious project of moving the country’s capital from traffic-clogged and sinking Jakarta to a location some 2,000 kilometers away in the middle of a forest in East Kalimantan has been touted as the legacy project of the outgoing president.
The construction of Nusantara however has moved at a sluggish pace since its groundbreaking in mid-2022, being hampered by a lack of foreign investment, land acquisition problems and delays.
The government has been racing to build the infrastructure required for the relocation of the first batch of 12,000 civil servants this September. However, the plan has been twice delayed due to the slow pace of construction work.
Political analyst Agung Baskoro said that the resignation of the two technocrats could erode public confidence in the development of the project, an outcome that could also undermine political support for the completion of the new capital.
“To some extent, the resignations also could spell doubt among the public, investors and political elites over whether the project can and should be realized in the near future,” Agung said.
The abrupt resignations, Agung said, also raised questions about the future of the new capital project under the leadership of president-elect Prabowo Subianto, who is closely aligned with Jokowi and has pledged to continue developing the new capital.
“With Prabowo looking to realize his campaign promises and populist programs, such as his free school lunch initiative, the new capital city may not arise as the top priority of the incoming government in the face of the fiscal constraints,” Agung added.