"We are still studying it. Shifting the seat of government will not only focus on the capital but also on the seat of the government," Bappenas Chief Bambang Brodjonegoro said after the opening of a national development meeting here on Wednesday.
What is certain is that the capital must be moved outside Java due to the availability of adequate land, he stated.
The area to which the capital will be moved must be entirely controlled by the government, he noted.
"Surely, it will be moved outside Java. Of course, we will look at the availability of land which is 100 percent controlled by the government. So there will no longer be any issues related to land clearance," he remarked.
Bambang earlier stated that several areas had the potential to become the new capital of Indonesia. One of them was Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, which was once proposed by Indonesias founding father and first president Soekarno.
In the 1950s, Soekarno proposed Palangkaraya as the capital of Indonesia. He once visited the city which is located at the heart of Indonesia.
Bambang remarked that a Bappenas team is still analyzing the criteria of area and the availability of land to become a new capital, he added. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
