Groundbreaking of New Presidential Palace may be Held this Year

Name: Groundbreaking of New Presidential Palace may be Held this Year
Uploaded: 2021-03-03T03:04:59Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: The relocation of the nation’s capital to the North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regions of East Kalimantan awaits the passage of a bill on the new capital by the House of Representatives.

The relocation of the nation’s capital to the North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regions of East Kalimantan awaits the passage of a bill on the new capital by the House of Representatives.

SUCIPTO/ DIONISIUS REYNALDO TRIWIBOWO

· 5 minutes read

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The relocation of the nation’s capital to the North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regions of East Kalimantan awaits the passage of a bill on the new capital by the House of Representatives. If everything goes according to plan, the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the new presidential palace will be held this year.

Last year, the government implemented three major agendas for the relocation of the country\'s capital city, namely the preparation and completion of the master plan, the preparation for a strategic environmental study and the preparation and determination of a spatial plan.

After the bill has been passed, the groundbreaking will be held.

In 2021, there is a schedule for ecosystem restoration, land acquisition for roads and infrastructure, technical planning and a detailed engineering design feasibility study. The government expects the bill on the relocation of the capital city to be passed this year.

"After the bill has been passed, the groundbreaking will be held. Once it has been done, electricity will immediately be prepared for the palace, then water and other things will follow, National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) head Suharso Monoarfa said during an interview with Kompas from his office in Jakarta on Tuesday (2/3/2021). Also attending the interview were a number of deputy heads and expert staff members.

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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo last visited the location of the planned capital city, near the monitoring tower of industrial forest developer PT ITCI Hutani Manunggal in Sepaku district, North Penajam Paser, in December 2019. The industrial forest area has not changed its function.

Changes have been made only on the highway in Sepaku district. The road, which was previously without traffic separators, has been beautified at several points, namely with the addition of road dividers pained black and white. This can be found from kilometer 38 of Jl. Soekarno-Hatta to Sepaku district.

Location of the new palace

According to Suharso, the government has determined the coordinates of the location of the state palace to be built in the proposed area of East Kalimantan. He is optimistic that the year\'s agenda can be carried out with the full support of the House and President Jokowi.

The development of infrastructure facilities for water and energy sources is also expected to begin in 2021. The water supply will come from the Sepaku-Semoi Dam which will be built in Sepaku district. The dam can provide raw water needs of 2,500 liters per second for the city of Balikpapan and North Penajam Paser. After the capital has been officially moved, the water from the dam will used to meet the needs of the new city.

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Based on auction information from the electronic procurement service of the Public Works and Housing Ministry, the contract for the Sepaku-Semoi Dam development was awarded in July 2020 and the contraction is scheduled for completion in 2023. By 2024, the dam is to be usable, according to the government\'s capital city relocation plan. The contract to conduct a feasibility study on the boundaries and landscape of the Sepaku-Semoi Dam was signed on Feb. 10.

Increasing economic growth

The relocation of the capital to Kalimantan is expected to stimulate the economy of the surrounding regions and have a positive impact on national economic growth. In the initial phase, residential areas containing about 100,000 houses will be built in the new capital city. About 500,000 workers may be hired for the housing projects. Logistics and distribution centers for the new capital’s development will also be built in North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Bali.

Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, deputy head for economic affairs at the National Development Planning Agency, said the construction of houses and offices in the new capital would increase the national economic growth rate by 0.2 percentage points on average per year. The economic growth of East Kalimantan is predicted to reach 2.1 percent. The development will have an impact on growth in Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

"The projected economic impact only comes from the construction of houses and offices. It would be bigger if it included the development of other infrastructure facilities," said Amalia.

Some areas in the new capital city will be returned to their actual functions.

The economic growth is to be driven by increased production, such as of cement, transportation infrastructure, metal products, paint and other items. The development needs will be supplied by other provinces in Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi and South Sulawesi.

Regarding the environmental aspects, the development of the capital city will increase vegetation on lands deforested as a result of illegal mining, including the

Bukit Soeharto Grand Forest Park in Kutai Kartanegara, because it will be developed as a city forest.