(Sept 4): Indonesia’s new capital city will be modeled on Silicon Valley, a base for tech and creative companies, besides hosting the government apparatus, according to President Joko Widodo.
The president wants the yet-to-be named city in East Kalimantan on the Borneo island to foster development of technology startups and a digitized manufacturing sector, The Jakarta Post reported, citing Widodo as telling journalists on Tuesday. The new capital will boast an efficient, technology-driven urban system for delivery of public services, Jokowi, as Widodo is known, said.
Indonesia will begin the construction of the new capital at an estimated cost of US$33 billion ($45.8 billion) from next year as Jokowi seeks to ease pressure on the congested and sinking Jakarta, and spread economic activity outside the nation’s most-populous island of Java. The new city will be dotted with world-class educational institutions, modern hospitals, botanical parks and backed by a green transportation system with only electric vehicles, Jokowi said.
While authorities have identified about 180,000 hectares of land in East Kalimantan, the center of government will require only about 10,000 hectares and about 30,000 hectares will be put up for sale to individuals and companies at a fraction of the price it costs in Jakarta, Jokowi said.
