JAKARTA – The new capital of Indonesia in East Kalimantan has been named Nusantara, National Development Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa said during a meeting with the working committee for the new capital city bill today at the country’s Parliament.
He said President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, confirmed the name on Friday, January 14.
The new capital city is one of Jokowi’s priority infrastructure development projects in Indonesia as the catalyst for unlocking overall economic potential, promoting growth, creating jobs and reducing poverty.
“I believe everyone will agree with the name Nusantara,” Suharso said.
The minister said Nusantara was an old Javanese term, which literally means “outer islands”, explaining it is iconic internationally and widely known by the global community as the Republic of Indonesia.
Indonesia set aside US$35.8 billion (RM149.8 billion) in the 2022 state budget for the construction of the new capital. The entire project costs US$35 billion.
Actual physical construction could start this year, pending the capital city bill’s approval by Indonesia’s Parliament.
On September 9 last year, Jokowi signed Presidential Regulation No. 85 of 2021 on Government Work Plans for 2022, which comprises eight strategic steps to speed up the transformation of Kalimantan, including the building of the new capital city complete with supporting infrastructure.
Others include accelerating investment realisation, optimising the development of commodities and increasing legal certainty on land ownership by issuing land rights certificates. – Bernama, January 17, 2022
