A street of Jakarta (Source: AFP/VNA) Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on December 18 that hehad ordered his Cabinet to speed up a 32.79 billion USD project to move thecapital city from Jakarta to Borneo island so that the new "SiliconValley"-like city could be ready by 2023, a year earlier than thegovernment's original estimate.
In a Facebook post, Widodo said the government would form a new agency tooversee the relocation project next month and it would then officially submit abill backing the move to the parliament.
The leader expressed his hope that the whole process, including the granddesign, can be completed in six months.
The next job will be land clearing and basic infrastructure construction, hesaid.
The 256,000ha site of the capital is on highland overseeing a bay, he said,noting government offices would begin to be built next year and should be readyby 2023.
He said he hopes that the new capital could be the next Silicon Valley due to acluster of research and innovation facilities envisaged for the area.
The President announced in August the government intended to move theadministrative capital to East Kalimantan province, on Borneo, by 2024 torelieve the heavy burden on the current capital Jakarta due to overcrowding andpollution.
Jakarta, the current capital of the world's fourth-most populous country, onthe island of Java, is now home to 10 million people and is sinking due toover-extraction of ground water, as well as being prone to floods and trafficgridlock./.
VNA
