By : Maya Naura Lingga )*
All infrastructure in the National Capital City (IKN) of the archipelago is very ready to fully support and successfully carry out the 79th Independence Day (HUT) ceremony of the Republic of Indonesia (RI). It is hoped that this readiness will be able to support the celebration of the 79th Republic of Indonesia’s Independence Day safely and smoothly.
Of course, the successful implementation of this ceremony which is very important for this nation is because it commemorates the independence event when the heroes succeeded in driving out the invaders and made this country able to stand on its own feet (independence), inseparable from supporting things such as infrastructure.
With complete and adequate infrastructure, the 79th Indonesian Independence Day ceremony in the National Capital (IKN) of the archipelago will run smoothly and successfully.
The government continues to strive to accelerate the progress of IKN infrastructure development in East Kalimantan Province (Kaltim), which is planned to be ready to be used for the 79th anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of the Republic of Indonesia.
Until now, progress in infrastructure development is still ongoing. According to the Director General (Dirjen) of Human Settlements of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR), Diana Kusumastuti, in the first stage, the infrastructure is targeted to be able to be utilized even in July 2024.
Some of the infrastructure that is ready, namely toll roads, clean water, the palace and presidential office, coordinating ministry offices and the memorial park, are expected to be functional and utilized by the end of July 2024.
Talking about the IKN Access Toll Road, the existence of this infrastructure will be used to celebrate the 79th Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia. Currently the government through the PUPR Ministry continues to focus on Segments 3A, 3B and 5A and all progress is good because it is in the asphalting stage.
For your information, the existence of the IKN toll road is clearly very beneficial in terms of mobility or transportation because it is able to further shorten the distance from Balikpapan to the IKN Central Government Core Area (KIPP) which previously passed through the Balikpapan-Samarinda (Balsam) and Lintas Sepaku toll roads. It took up to 2 hours 15 minutes over a distance of 95 km, but now it only takes 45 minutes over a distance of 57 km.
This toll road network connects Balikpapan City with the IKN Central Government Core Area (KIPP) in North Penajam Paser, mainly crossing the IKN Toll road and the Balang Island Bridge.
Not only that, as a place to stay for all ceremony officials, the government has also prepared the Coordinating Ministry Office (Kemenko) I which consists of four towers six floors high, complete with temporary bathroom facilities and a panoramic lift.
The PUPR Ministry is adding portable bathroom facilities on each floor of the Kemenko 1 Tower 1 building. All ceremonial officials will be placed on floors 1 to 3 of Kemenko 1 Tower 1 which are targeted for completion on July 7 2024. The Kemenko 1 building can accommodate a total of 1,345 state civil servants (ASN) if fully operational.
Meanwhile, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi confirmed that Nusantara Airport, the official name of the airport in IKN, can be used on August 1 2024. This airport stands on an area of 347 hectares and will be the air gateway for important guests on August 17 2024.
The airport is complete with a passenger terminal covering an area of 7,350 square meters, then there is a runway measuring 3 thousand meters long and 45 meters wide which can accommodate even wide-body aircraft like the Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A380.
Not only in terms of physical infrastructure, but what is no less important is electrical energy infrastructure, PLN ensures sufficient electrical power in IKN. Deputy for Development Control of the IKN Authority (OIKN), Thomas Umbu Pati, explained that his party had built a solar power plant with a capacity of 10 megawatts.
PLN also built two 150 kilovolt gas insulated switchgear (GIS) units, a 2×30 megavolt ampere (MVA) Mobile substation (GI), a 26.03-kilometre-route (kmr) transmission network, a 20.24 circuit-kilometre distribution network ( kms), nine switching substations, and a distribution substation.
The IKN Authority also confirmed the readiness of the Ceremonial Grounds in the Indonesian Capital City ahead of the 79th Indonesian Independence Day Ceremony on August 17 2024.
The ceremonial ground is ready, you can see the flagpole has been firmly installed right in front of the Presidential Palace at IKN. Then, the ceremonial field also appeared to be green and the ceremonial area had been beautified.
With all the very significant progress that has occurred in accelerating infrastructure development at IKN, it is clear that it has been able to attract a lot of attention and make the commemoration of the 79th Indonesian Independence Day Ceremony even from the start of the activity until the end, able to run smoothly and successfully. And this implementation also became a symbol of the beginning of government activities in Indonesia’s new capital city.
)* The author is a contributor to Ruang Baca Nusantara