"As we have planned, we will relocate (the capital city)," Jokowi said at Mount Ainslie in Canberra, Australia on Sunday.
Mount Ainslie is a 843-meter high hill in Canberra that has become part of Canberra Nature Park. From the hill, visitors could observe the view of Canberra.
President Jokowi has visited the hill in the company of Chief Executive National Capital Authority Canberra Sally Barnes.
"We have conducted a city design competition a year ago. A study had also been started five years ago, and we have made a decision. We have to wait for the approval of the law before we can conduct the land clearing and start the basic infrastructure development," he elaborated.
Canberra is a "new city" specially designed as the capital of Australia. It was established in 1913, two years after the establishment of the Australian Capital Terrirory (ACT).
As the seat of the government of Australia, Canberra is home to many important institutions of the federal government, national monuments and museums. It also hosts the majority of foreign embassies in Australia, including the Indonesian Embassy.
Indonesia has planned to relocate its capital city to East Kalimantan in 2024.
On December 23, 2019, it announced the “Nagara Rimba Nusa” design as the winner of the design contest for the country’s new capital city.
The government has set aside 256,000 hectares of land for the new administrative centre.
Some 56 hectares of the total land will be the region that is not included in the autonomous province, managed by a city manager, while the rest will be designated as conservation.
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Translator: Desca Lidya N, Sri Haryati
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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