By: Edi Jatmiko )*
The government and the House of Representatives continue to make efforts to move the State Capital to Kalimantan Island. The relocation of the Negata Capital City is believed to be able to improve community welfare and reduce development disparities between regions in Indonesia.
The discourse of moving the national capital was finally executed after President Joko Widodo proposed openly moving the national capital to Kalimantan. The new government center will be moved to East Kalimantan, while DKI Jakarta according to plan will become the center of economy and business. The consideration of setting a new location in East Kalimantan, as explained by President Joko Widodo, covers at least five things.
First, minimal risk of disaster. Second, the strategic location because it is in the middle of Indonesia’s territory which stretches from Aceh to Papua. Third, close to urban areas that have been developed, namely the City of Balikpapan and Samarinda City. Fourth, already have relatively complete infrastructure, such as roads, airports, and ports. Fifth, 180,000 hectares of government-owned land are available. The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) predicts the cost of moving the capital to Rp 485 trillion, with Rp 93 trillion of this coming from the state budget. The rest is expected to come from the use of government assets and cooperation with the private sector.
Relocation of the national capital is common and natural. Some countries also have done it, such as the United States from New York to Washington DC, Brazil from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, Australia from Sydney to Canberra, and Turkey from Istanbul to Ankara. If you look at the complexity of Jakarta’s problems, the discourse of moving the capital city becomes quite rational.
Jakarta’s position is said to be too centric and is a barometer of all activities, namely the central government as well as the business center and financial and trade services. This multiple role is possible because the supporting infrastructure is very good. As a result, the carrying capacity of the city has declined in the provision of clean water and adequate housing for every citizen.
When the dry season is dry, air quality deteriorates, one of which is due to the traffic flow of vehicles from the surrounding cities to the capital. When the rainy season arrived, flooding was a threat to some residents even though efforts to improve the river flow continued.
Based on the Bappenas count, the loss due to congestion in Jakarta is Rp. 100 trillion and 50 percent of the Jakarta area is included in the flood-prone category. Floods not only come from upstream, but also from land subsidence in the north coast and sea level rise. In addition to decreasing carrying capacity, another reason that has always surfaced is economic justice. Economic development is considered too Java-centric so that it creates a wide gap between western and eastern Indonesia. The move of central government activities to Kalimantan will directly increase activities around the location of the new capital city.
Therefore, the capital transfer plan does not need to be a polemic that drains the nation’s energy. On the other hand, the support of all elements of society has a significant impact on the successful removal of a well-intentioned national capital, one of which is economic transformation, both for economic growth and equity.
In addition, the plan to relocate the capital also needs to be carried out gradually and systematically, by preparing a legal umbrella so that deliberation of the Capital Transfer Bill in the DPR is expected to be carried out carefully to support the government’s plan to move the national capital to East Kalimantan.
)* The author is a social political observer