President Jokowi and incoming president Prabowo, along with ministers and military leaders, celebrated Indonesia’s 79th year of independence in the nation’s planned new capital of Nusantara in Kalimantan on Saturday (17/8/24) with hundreds of attendees from local communities and construction workers in a scaled-back ceremony as problems and delays beset the still-under-construction city, reports Reuters.
A legacy project of outgoing President Jokowi, Nusantara has suffered construction delays and funding shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of foreign investment, and more recently, the resignations of project leaders.
According to Reuters, in Saturday’s celebration of the country’s independence from Japanese rule that ended in 1945, the number of attendees was cut to 1,300 guests, down from the initial 8,000, as lodgings and food supply were limited, Jokowi said last week.
Nusantara is being built in a forested pocket in East Kalimantan, about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from the current capital of Jakarta in Java.
Jokowi has sought to shore up confidence in the USD 32 billion mega-project in recent months, breaking ground for hotels and office buildings and holding the first cabinet meeting in the eagle-shaped new state palace.
But he has also said plans to relocate thousands of civil servants to Nusantara could be postponed, subject to the readiness of the capital city, after previously ordering them to pack up and move in September, according to Reuters.
Incoming president Prabowo Subianto, who also attended Saturday’s ceremony, has promised to continue Nusantara.
A parallel celebration was also held in Jakarta, where most of the music and dances were performed.
Source: Reuters
Image by BPMI Setpres/Vico
