Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Pakuwon Nusantara Groundbreaking Event, Wednesday, November 1, 2023, North Penajem Paser Regency, East Kalimantan Province

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Good afternoon,

May prosperity be upon all of us,

Distinguished Ministers, Head of the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority, Governor of East Kalimantan Province, Regent of North Penajem Paser,

Distinguished President Commissioner of PT. Pakuwon Nusantara (a private construction company) and the entire board of directors,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, if we have to travel from Balikpapan to Nusantara (the new capital city), we have to take a long and winding road, taking almost two hours or sometimes more. This morning, however, I tried the new toll road, whose construction is almost completed. Once it is completed, the time taken will be around 45 minutes from Balikpapan to Nusantara. The toll road is very wide. How many meters wide, Minister? It consists of three right lines and three left lines, meaning that it is about as big as the Jagorawi toll road (the toll road around Jakarta area). It will be completed approximately by June 2024.

After that, this morning we also held the groundbreaking ceremony of Nusantara Airport for which we allocate a budget of Rp4.2 trillion and which will also be completed around June 2024 and can be landed by wide body aircrafts. If these two projects –  the toll road and the airport – are completed, I am sure that those who are late in starting their investment in Nusantara Capital City will be left behind because, like what we see today, I really appreciate PT. Pakuwon that has designed buildings like the ones we see for apartments, hotels, and malls. I am sure that once everyone takes action and the road and the airport are completed, investors will flock to Nusantara.

I have ordered Head of the IKN Authority to prioritize domestic investors, but if there is no other choice and no domestic investors seem interested, we will take another step and attract foreign investors because several months ago 130 investors came from Singapore. They came all the way from Singapore to see the new capital. If they are not interested, what else do you think they came here for? There were also 30 investors from Korea, 30 too from Japan, from Malaysia, from the United Arab Emirates but we decided to put a hold for a moment. I ordered Head of the IKN Authority to hold foreign investors and give them some chance, and if possible, [encourage them to] join domestic investors so that the zones that we have planned will all be filled. But usually foreign investors, for example those from the United Arab Emirates, ask for one block for a financial center and will do the entire work. If that’s the case, what else will domestic investors get?

So, I am pleased that PT. Pakuwon has gone ahead and started building and I really appreciate it. And we hope that this will pave the way for the others. As Head of the IKN Authority has said earlier, I am asked to come here again in December because there will be other groundbreakings. How many, Sir? Approximately there are 8-9 more new projects that will start and we hope this will continue to enliven our capital city Nusantara.

That concludes my remarks.

By saying bismillahirrahmanirahim at this noon I officially break ground of Pakuwon Nusantara.

I thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

(TM/EP)