JAKARTA: Indonesia’s parliament has approved a bill to relocate the nation’s capital from Jakarta to Kalimantan on Borneo, House Speaker Puan Maharani said on Tuesday.
The new state capital law, which provides a legal framework for President Joko Widodo’s ambitious proposal, stipulates how the development of the capital will be funded and governed.
According to National Development Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa, the reason for selecting Nusantara was because the name has been well known since a long time ago.
“It is iconic internationally, easy and it describes the archipelago of the Republic of Indonesia,” Monoarfa said, adding: “And I think we all agree with the name Nusantara.”
The plan to relocate the capital from the country’s most populated island of Java was first announced by the government in April 2019.
Months later, Widodo announced two districts in East Kalimantan province, which are North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara, to be the site of the new capital city.
With an area of about 127,000 sq km, East Kalimantan is home to more than 3.7 million people.
The ground-breaking of the multibillion-dollar construction project was initially expected to be conducted in August 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the government to put it on hold.
The new capital will serve as the centre of government, while Jakarta the current capital city which is home to more than 10 million people, would remain the business and economic centre of Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
