The new capital of Indonesia will be located in East Kalimantan province (Photo: AFP) Jakarta (VNA) - The Indonesian government hashired three international consulting companies to develop a master plan for thecountry’s new capital city in East Kalimantan province, Indonesian CoordinatingMinister for Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Binsar Pandjaitansaid on February 28.
According to the minister, AECOM construction company and McKinsey &Company management consulting firm of the US, and Japan's Nikken Sekkeiarchitecture and construction company will design the new capital in the modelof a smart and environmentally friendly city.
McKinsey & Company is hired to support the National Development PlanningAgency (Bappenas), while Nikken Sekkei will work with SoftBank - the Japanesecorporation recently committed to investing in this 33 billion USD megaproject.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting on the new capital building project withthe participation of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and billionaireMasayoshi Son - founder and CEO of SoftBank, Minister Luhut said that all thethree consulting firms have experience in designing big cities.
Last August, the Indonesian government announced a plan to move the capital,Jakarta, on the island of Java, which regularly faces floods and sea level riseto an area of 256,000 hectares in the two districts of North Penajam Paserand Kutai Kartanegara of East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo.
The Indonesian government estimates the project will cost up to 466 trillionrupiah (33.3 billion USD), of which 54.4 percent will come from public-privatepartnerships, and 26.4 percent from the private sector and 19.2 percent fromthe state budget.
Under the plan, the state budget will be used to build the 5,600ha core area ofthe new capital, where the Presidential Palace and other government buildingsare located.
Recently, the Government of Indonesia has set up a steering committee for the newcapital building project with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair,billionaire Masayoshi Son and Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al Nahyan among its members.
Earlier, sources said the UAE government would invest 22.8 billion USD in this megaproject through a national investment fund, along with SoftBank and the USInternational Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC)./.
VNA
