We have all agreed that the plan for construction will be finalized within a year. We expect the project to be launched at the end of next year or early 2021, so the capital city can be built over three years
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The construction of Indonesia's new capital in Penajam Paser Utara and Kutai Kertanegara Districts in East Kalimantan Province will begin in 2021, the Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan reaffirmed here, Friday. "We have all agreed that the plan for construction will be finalized within a year. We expect the project to be launched at the end of next year or early 2021, so the capital city can be built over three years," Pandjaitan said in Jakarta, after attending a meeting with several ministers.

The Indonesian government is planning to set up an authoritative body for the relocation, he added.

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"The Minister of National Development Planning, Soeharso Manoarfa, will update the President (Joko Widodo) on the work conducted by the authoritative body," Pandjaitan remarked.

However, he would first focus on finalizing the legal aspects of the relocation before setting up an authoritative body – a special agency whose tasks include monitoring the construction and maintaining the coordination among agencies, Manoarfa stated.

"We have several different laws now, but it will be cut down into a single omnibus law," Manoarfa explained, and added that the authority will change the special status of Jakarta, the present capital.

The ministry has yet to decide the new capital’s autonomy status and its administrative body, he said.

"We have not yet determined the status of the new capital city. The ministry expects it to serve both as the administrative capital city and the state capital city," he stated.

The administrative status will determine which public offices and agencies will be relocated from Jakarta to East Kalimantan.

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Translator: Afut Syafril N/Genta Tenri Maw
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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