KUCHING: One of the main purposes of moving Indonesia’s new capital to East Kalimantan is to spread the nation’s economic distribution and development to the region.
Consulate General to the Republic of Indonesia in Kuching, Raden Sigit Witjaksono, said East Kalimantan is a good location because it will connect to areas like Sulawesi, Maluku, East Timor and Papua.
“Indonesia’s population is 273 million and approximately 160 million or 57 per cent are living in Java.
“The economic distribution and focus of development are in Java where we have our big cities like Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Yogyakarta.
“As such, we need to split and redistribute our economic wealth and population to develop the eastern part of Indonesia because there are so many developments already in Java, some in Sumatra, then our icon of tourism, Bali,” he told New Sarawak Tribune and Suara Sarawak.
Raden said there are many good natural tourist attractions that have yet to be tapped or developed in those areas.
On another note, he said the government is targeting to have approximately 1.5 million of its people residing in Nusantara once it has been fully completed.
Based on the initial plan starting with the year 2024, he said around 100,000 civil servants will posted to serve in the new capital.
“The new capital will hopefully give benefit to Jakarta as well because it is full of people – approximately 10 million.
“Jakarta will still remain a business centre, so investors do not have to worry,” he said.
