FACTS ABOUT THE MOVEMENT OF CAPITAL CITY (JAKARTA TO KUTAI KARTANEGARA)

Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Sofyan Djalil confirmed that East Kalimantan was the chosen province, even though the government was still closing information meetings regarding the area which would actually become the capital of Jakarta.

Sofyan said the government did not want to openly disclose information related to the exact location of the new capital because it wanted to first ascertain land readiness in the region.

In a written presentation titled 'Plans for Moving the Capital of the State', Minister of National Development Planning (PPN / Bappenas) Bambang Brodjonegoro said that the reason Kalimantan was chosen to be the successor of DKI Jakarta was one of them because of its strategic location.

"The strategic location (Kalimantan Island) is in the middle of Indonesia," Bambang said in a written presentation. In addition, Kalimantan Island is also included as a location free from earthquake and tsunami disasters.

Bambang also mentioned the reasons the capital city had to move outside Java. One of them is, because the economic contribution to the National Gross Domestic Product of each region is uneven and the highest island of Java reaches 58.48 percent.

The value of this contribution is higher than other regions, such as Sumatra which amounted to 21.66 percent, Kalimantan Island 8.20 percent, Sulawesi Island 6.11 percent, Bali Island 3.11 percent, even Papua Island which was only 2.43 percent.

Java Island has the highest population of the total population of Indonesia, reaching 57 percent. Meanwhile, other regions have a very low population of less than 10 percent, except for Sumatra Island.

"Around 57 percent of Indonesia's population is concentrated in Java," Bambang said in a written presentation.

Why is the capital need to be moved?

Jakarta is a very crowded city. Centralized economic growth in Jakarta plays a major role in increasing the population of the city. For information, the population of DKI Jakarta is 10,467,600 as of the end of 2018.

Every year many people move to Jakarta to look for work. This mobilization makes the source of human labor in the capital a lot and cheap. But on the other hand, because the demand for various things such as shelter, food, and other necessities is increasing, the prices of various necessities and housing soared. Annual inflation in Jakarta in 2018 reached 3.27%, with the biggest inflation in food prices.

This condition is certainly not healthy, because it can increase poverty rates which have an impact on increasing the number of crimes, as well as increasing the burden of costs for social welfare.

From an environmental perspective, dense housing without good management makes Jakarta prone to flooding. Not to mention the problem of pollution arising from the density of vehicles and the many facilities improvement projects such as roads and sidewalks. This pollution gets worse in the dry season.

According to AirVisual, the air in Jakarta has entered the unhealthy category. According to them, the air quality index in the capital city is at an alarming point, which is 158.

Why is Kalimantan an option?

The explanation above are two of the various factors that are driving the government to move the capital city. Of all the islands in Indonesia, Kalimantan is the choice.

Here are some considerations, why Kalimantan is the most suitable location for a new capital city.

Large vacant land

As mentioned earlier, the location of the prospective capital city is in some parts of North Penajam Paser Regency and parts of Kutai Kartanegara Regency. Between these two districts, there is vast vacant land. The available land is not just any land, but part of it is government land.

At the location chosen by the government, the state has controlled 180 hectares of land. This facilitates the process of moving the capital because there is no need to take care of land acquisition procedures.

Lack of earthquake

According to research by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), in Kalimantan there is no risk of earthquake and tsunami disasters. This factor is very important, because as the center of government, damage from natural disasters must be prevented.

Both East and Central Kalimantan, are disaster safe areas when compared to Jakarta, or even Java Island in general. In addition, disruption to government performance due to flooding problems, such as those in Jakarta, can be avoided.

Strategic position

The island of Borneo is in the middle of the Indonesian islands. This means that coordination for development to the western or eastern regions of Indonesia can run more effectively.

Sending delegations to various regions can also be easier and faster if the location of the central government is more strategic. That is, the cost of official travel to regions could be cheaper.

Even delegates from other regions, especially Eastern Indonesia, can visit the central government faster. At present it is rather difficult to find direct flights from Papua to the Kalimantan area. However, with the movement of the capital, routes from cities in Kalimantan to various regions, even overseas, can be opened.

Economic equality

During this time, the development seemed to be centered only on Java. With the removal of the central government, it is hoped that development will become more equitable. Later it will also result in an even distribution of the population and increase community welfare.

The idea of ​​reducing the burden on Java has also been long planned.

Opening new areas can also attract many investors to other islands outside Java. Thus, employment will be opened wider for other regions. It is hoped that with more investors investing outside Java, population mobilization to Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya will be reduced.