Jakarta (VNA) – The Indonesian government has committed to developing Nusantara city in East Kalimantan into a complete political capital by 2028, one year before President Prabowo Subianto's term ends.
At a recent press conference following a cabinet meeting, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono said that President Prabowo has approved a budget of 48.8 trillion IDR (over 3 billion USD) for legislative and judicial facilities, as well as for ensuring the construction of roads in and around Nusantara and maintaining the facilities that have already been built there.
Indonesian targets to complete the construction of legislative and judicial buildings along with supporting facilities by 2028, as part of efforts to transform Nusantara into the political capital of the country.
This budget is lower than the 75 trillion IDR (4.6 billion USD) allocated by the administration of then President Joko Widodo from 2022 to 2024. However, the head of the Nusantara Capital Authority (IKN), Basuki Hadimuljono, asserted that this amount will be sufficient to achieve all goals in the next two to three years because 61% of the first phase of the Nusantara construction process was completed by December 2024, including 109 government office building projects worth approximately 89 trillion IDR.
Prabowo is expected to make his first visit to Nusantara as President soon to oversee the groundbreaking of several projects, including hotels, residential buildings, and offices, with a total value of up to 6.5 trillion IDR.
However, there are still many questions about whether President Prabowo's administration has the ability or desire to continue developing the city, as he also has several priority projects with large budgets./.
