By: Angga Wiwaha) *
The government, through the Ministry of National Development Planning, said that the plan to relocate the National Capital to East Kalimantan will continue even though the corrosive virus (covid-19) is still endemic in Indonesia.
Bappenas Secretary Himawan Hariyoga Djojokusumo said that he was optimistic that the pemindaha plan was on schedule because it had been prepared well. At present, according to him, the process is in the stage of regulatory completion, namely the Presidential Decree (Kepres) and the Draft Law (RUU) of the National Capital.
If the legal umbrella is completed, then the ground breaking target of developing the new national capital can be done by the end of 2020.
The government is targeting 2024, the capital of the country of Indonesia has moved to a new capital city which is located in part of North Penajam Paser Regency and in part of Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan.
It is estimated that the construction cost of the new capital reaches Rp 466 trillion, of which 19 percent comes from the state budget and the rest will come from the PPP (Government Cooperation with Business Entities) and private direct investment and SOEs.
The contour of the capital city location is hilly, because it is a former industrial forest with an area of 256 thousand hectares plus a reserve area so that the total reaches 410 thousand hectares with a core area of 56 thousand hectares.
Later, the new capital will be divided into a number of clusters, namely the government cluster of 5,600 hectares, the health cluster, the education cluster and the research and technology cluster.
We all know that the burden of DKI Jakarta as the capital of the Republic of Indonesia has become heavier as a center of government, business, finance, trade and services. This also concerns the burden of the airport and port.
In addition, President Jokowi once said that the population density in Jakarta is already too large, where DKI Jakarta is inhabited by 150 million or 54% of the total population of Indonesia.
Of course the population density will cause recurring problems, such as floods, congestion or land crises so that not a few people in Jakarta who live under bridges or river banks.
The CNBC Research Team has made an inventory of the important reasons why the transfer of the capital cannot be delayed anymore. According to them, the main cause of the capital must be moved in relation to the traffic density in Jakarta which triggered the spread of vehicles and traffic jams here and there.
According to Bappenas, the severe traffic jams that often occur in Jakarta have the potential to result in losses of up to trillions of rupiah each year. In 2013 the economic loss from congestion showed a figure of Rp. 65 trillion per year and currently the figure has approached Rp. 100 trillion with the increasingly heavy congestion in the DKI Jakarta area.
The statement is relatively reasonable, considering that congestion makes travel time longer, so that in addition to fuel inefficiency, it also erodes human productivity.
Until now there has not been a bright spot or a solution that can reduce congestion, such as the three in one lane for example, where the policy requires passing cars to have a capacity of at least 3 people, but this actually creates a new problem namely the emergence of three in one jockey.
Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2017, Jakarta’s population density level is 15,366 people / km2. This figure is relatively high, so that it will potentially be uncomfortable as a place to live.
In addition, the bad thing that is in the spotlight in Jakarta is the crisis of clean water. CNBC mentioned that the crisis was caused by sea water which made the salt content in the ground water increased. Thus, water is not suitable for consumption or use by residents of Jakarta.
Another thing to consider is Jakarta’s air quality which is the 10th worst in the world. Of course this has become a triger for us to clean up.
With this, of course the relocation of the country’s capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan is one of the government’s priorities. This transfer will certainly have the potential to improve the national economy, due to the absorption of local labor. In addition, the government’s dream to realize economic equality will also be closer.
) * The author is a contributor to the Indonesian Strategic Information Study Institute (LSISI)