June 4, 2024
JAKARTA – Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono has expressed hope that investors could maintain their high confidence in the projects for the construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, following the departure of its leadership on Monday.
Following the shock departure of Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority head Bambang Soesantono and deputy head Dhony Rahajoe, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo appointed Basuki to serve as the person in charge on an interim basis.
“I don’t think that there will be problems. In fact, I am expecting the level of confidence is now even higher since a minister and a deputy minister replaced them,” Basuki was quoted saying by Antara.
Basuki said another reason for investors to remain confident was that the government had now completed 80 percent of infrastructure projects in the planned new capital.
State Secretary Pratikno announced on Monday that the head and deputy head of the IKN Authority, overseeing the US$32 billion project, had resigned.
The resignations come ahead of President Jokowi’s planned celebration of Indonesia’s Independence Day in Nusantara on Aug. 17.
The two officials had been assigned to speed up construction of the new capital, he said. No reason for the resignations was provided.
Bambang Susantono, a former official at the Asian Development Bank, was not immediately available for comment.
Dhony Rahajoe, an architect and former real estate developer, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The resignations of the two professionals come amid a lack of private funding for the ambitious new capital being built in a remote and forested area of East Kalimantan.
The government has been racing to build the infrastructure required for the relocation of the first batch of 12,000 civil servants this September. But the plan has previously been delayed twice, raising doubts about the President’s signature project.