Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Planning (BPN) chief Sofyan Djalil has said that Indonesia’s new capital will be moved to a 300,000-hectare plot of land owned by the state in order to lower construction costs.
“The capital will be built on state land so construction costs and land clearance costs will be at minimum,” Sofyan stated at press conference held in his office. While the cost for land clearance is almost zero, Sofyan added that the government will still have to spend money to prepare the land.
When asked about potential locations, the minister confirmed that the government is currently setting their sights on a few different locations. “We have identified three to four regions which have met the requirements,” Sofyan added.
He further elaborated that the location of the new capital has to be in a place which has the least potential for natural disasters to happen.
“Our spatial planning is very concerned about disasters. So, we are making plans for areas that are prone to disasters so there will be less in the future. We cannot stop disasters,” he added.
Last week in a cabinet meeting, President Joko Widodo was known to have raised the issue. The President said that he has plans to move the capital city outside of Java island.
Source: Tempo
Image: Rumah.com