COVID-19 affects relocation of Indonesian capital

The project to move the Indonesian capital from Jakarta to North Penajam Paser in East Kalimantan might be delayed by COVID-19. (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

Jakarta (VNA) – The project to move the Indonesian capital from Jakarta to North Penajam Paser in East Kalimantan might be delayed by COVID-19 as the government shifted some of its budget to pandemic relief efforts, according a government official.

Jodi Mahardi, spokesperson of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, said there have been no further talks on the budget for the project as the ministry is following orders from President Joko Widodo to focus on fighting COVID-19.

The ministry’s focus now is to seek appropriate measures to cope with the pandemic as instructed by the President, Jodi said.

He added that the government has been reallocating spending in non-critical and non-urgent categories to anti-coronavirus programmes.

Although a large amount of investment in the new capital development is expected to come from private investors, the government has also allocated around 6.3 billion USD from the state budget for the project over the next five years.

Most of this money was supposed to be spent on land clearance and construction of basic infrastructures at the end of 2020./.