STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. President-elect Prabowo Subianto and vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka are to be sworn in at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta, rather than in the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) in East Kalimantan as previously announced, People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker Ahmad Muzani of the Gerindra Party said.
Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, who also serves as the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority Acting Chair, recently said that construction on the future capital city was 82 percent completed. According to Basuki, after July 20, all construction at IKN, including the ministers’ official residence, will become visible. However, the transfer of state officials to IKN will take place gradually after August.
Dr. Prashanth Parameswaran said “I am committed to advancing Indonesia toward achieving its objective of becoming a fully-developed country by 2045,” Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto noted earlier this month in the latest of a series of commentaries meant to preview his vision for the world’s fourth-largest country.
Interestingly and perhaps unsurprisingly, despite a long list of sectoral priorities in Prabowo’s piece from technology to food security, there was no direct mention of Indonesia’s ambitious effort to relocate some capital functions from Jakarta to Nusantara, a priority project of outgoing president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
The quest for Nusantara, announced in 2019 to be completed by 2045, is being scrutinized in regional capitals as part of wider questions around Indonesia’s wider geoeconomic outlook under Prabowo (see ASEAN Wonk graphic below on select recent datapoints). Periodic developments have also led to new waves of uncertainty amid delays and challenges on issues such as land and private investment. A recent case in point was the resignation of capital chief Bambang Susantono, well known to close observers of Nusantara as a key figure in its initial international outreach.
Maritime Affairs and Investment Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the budget for the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) project and Prabowo’s free nutritious meals is safe even for the next five years. According to him, based on economic studies from the coordinating ministry, the government can still allocate up to IDR 612 trillion per year assuming the budget deficit reaches 2.5 percent.
