VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The decision to relocate the national capital to East Kalimantan is aimed at ensuring smooth long-term national development, University of Indonesia academic Andrinof Chaniago has opined.

"We should assume that the relocation of the national capital is a step to develop the country, as we will have more issues to face in the next 30 years," he stated during a webinar on national capital relocation, accessed from Jakarta on Thursday.

Indonesia is on the brink of a food crisis as food production, centered mainly in Java, has declined due to accelerating arable land conversion for industry, housing, or tourism purposes on the island, he noted.

Kalimantan, compared with Java, has a lower population, yet it accounts for 33 percent of Indonesia's total land area, the academic noted.

"Kalimantan has 12 million hectares of non-productive land, and to construct a new city from scratch, we just need one million hectares that we could carve from the available land spaces," Chaniago said.

He argued that the relocation of the national capital would help relieve Jakarta's issues, warning the potential loss from multiple issues in the current capital may reach Rp50 trillion (around US$ 3.5 billion) annually.

"The regional authority is close to being overwhelmed as the demand for public service is beyond their ability to provide the service for the residents," Chaniago opined.

He also asked the authorities to ensure that infrastructure development is evenly spread in Indonesian regions instead of being centered in Java or the Jakarta agglomeration area.

Relocation of the national capital, besides alleviating Jakarta's issues and allowing the regional authority to devise and manage the province's development, would also fuel the development of eastern Indonesia and other underdeveloped regions, the academic said.

"The expected effect is that the new national capital would fuel the development in eastern Indonesia, underdeveloped, and border regions, and ensuring equal development nationwide as the foundation for a quality and sustainable national economic development," he remarked. (Antaranews)