Indonesia's parliament approves a bill to relocate the nation's capital from Jakarta to Kalimantan on Borneo. (Photo: Nikkei)The new capital law, which provides a legal frameworkfor President Joko Widodo's proposal, stipulates how development ofthe capital will be funded and governed.
The new capital will be called "Nusantara", or archipelago in English, chosen by the president.
President Widodo first announced the plan to relocate thecapital from Java, the country’s most populated island, in April 2019.
Months later, Widodo announced two districts in EastKalimantan province, which are North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara, to bethe site of the new capital city.
With an area of about 127,000 sq.km, East Kalimantan is hometo more than 3.7 million people.
The ground-breaking of the multibillion-dollar constructionproject was initially expected to be conducted in August 2020, but the COVID-19pandemic has forced the government to put it on hold.
The new capital will serve as the centre of government, whileJakarta the current capital city which is home to more than 10 million people,would remain the business and economic centre of Indonesia, Southeast Asia'sbiggest economy./.
VNA
