Doha, Qatar: The Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar, H E Ridwan Hassan, emphasised the crucial nature of relocating the capital of Indonesia and extended a warm welcome to Qatari investors to participate in the development of the new capital city.
Ambassador Hassan said: “The establishment of the new capital of Nusantara is strategically important for us, and this is also the reason why we invite Qatari enterprises to invest in this new capital city.”
Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially announced the relocation of Indonesia’s capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan on August 26, 2019. The new capital, named “Nusantara,” is set to be located in two districts in East Kalimantan, namely Kutai Kartanegara and Penajam Paser Utara. The initial phase of the relocation aims to transfer the State Palace along with certain ministries to the new capital by 2024.
Ambassador Hassan disclosed to reporters last year that a new hotel and resort, developed by Qatar, is scheduled to open its doors in Indonesia in 2024. This collaborative project between Indonesia and Qatar is underway, with the resort situated in Labuan Bajo, within the Nusa Tenggara region of eastern Indonesia, located at the western edge of Flores Island.
Ambassador Hassan highlighted that this new project will serve to strengthen the bilateral ties between the two countries. Qatar’s investment has already contributed significantly to Indonesia’s economy, with companies like Ooredoo, Nebras Power, and Qatar National Bank operating in Jakarta.
Furthermore, the envoy stressed that the resort project will play a role in boosting Indonesia’s tourism industry. He stated, “Indonesia is very famous for tourism, especially if you’re talking about the island of Bali. Indonesia consists of thousands of islands and if we are just focusing on Bali itself, it is not enough, because Bali is not really big to accommodate all the foreign tourists coming to Indonesia. For that reason, the government introduced the new policy, among others. We call it 10 New Balis. We copy Bali as the basis and then we develop it into other islands, with some modification.”
The “10 New Balis” initiative designates ten locations across Indonesia as potential tourist hotspots. These destinations, similar to Bali which attracts four million visitors annually, are expected to garner considerable tourist attention. The resort in Labuan Bajo is one of these “New Bali” locations, alongside places such as Borobudur Temple (Central Java), Belitung (Sumatra), Mount Bromo (East Java), Lake Toba (North Sumatra), Thousand Islands (Jakarta), Mandalika (West Nusa Tenggara), Wakatobi (Southeast Sulawesi), Tanjung Lesung (Banten), and Morotai (North Maluku).
According to a press statement sent by the Indonesian Embassy in Qatar, the decision to relocate the capital has historical roots, dating back to Indonesia’s early days of independence.
Indonesia’s first President, Soekarno, had envisioned moving the capital from Jakarta to Palangkaraya in Kalimantan.
The move is driven by the Ministry of National Development Planning of Indonesia, primarily due to demographic disparities between Java and other regions.
As of 2020, Java Island’s population accounted for 56.10% of the nation’s total population, underscoring the need for a more balanced distribution, it explained.
