When Toll-Airport Project is Completed, Jokowi is Confident that Investors will Rush to IKN

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) believes that if the construction of the Balikpapan-Nusantara toll road and airport in the Archipelago Capital (IKN) is completed, investors will increasingly flock to invest their capital in the new capital city.

"These two (toll roads and airports) will be the key when this is finished, I believe, this is not finished yet there will be crowds of people, especially when these two are completed there will be even more crowds of investors who will invest their capital in IKN," said President Jokowi at the groundbreaking. Hotel Nusantara in the IKN area, Thursday 21 September, was visited by Antara.

Jokowi explained that the construction of the Balikpapan-Nusantara toll road will soon enter the construction phase. He targets construction of the toll road to be completed in July 2024. The Balikpapan-Nusantara toll road will cut travel time to 30 minutes from Balikpapan to Nusantara, compared to currently around 1.5-2 hours.

"Earlier, the Minister of PUPR told me that it had been completed, meaning it would start construction soon. When will it be finished? The road will be finished in July 2024," he said.

Meanwhile, for the airport, said Jokowi, construction will begin soon. According to Jokowi, the travel time between the airport and Nusantara city center is only 15 minutes.

"It takes about 15 minutes from the airport to get here, and we hope that in July, maximum early August it can be completed," said Jokowi.

The President said that some time ago there had been 30 investors from South Korea, 40 investors from Japan, and 120 investors from Singapore who showed interest in IKN. Jokowi believes that these investors have carried out careful calculations and calculations regarding the economic potential of IKN.

IKN is being built on a long-term basis with a projected overall completion in 2045. The government is building IKN with a funding composition that mostly comes from private cooperation and investment, while funding from the APBN is allocated only 20 percent of the total funding needs.

Based on data from the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu), the IKN budget allocation in the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) for 2022 to 2024 is IDR 75.5 trillion. In detail, the realization value in 2022 is IDR 5.5 trillion. Then, the allocation in the 2023 APBN is IDR 29.4 trillion, and the allocation in the 2024 Draft APBN (RAPBN) is IDR 40.6 trillion.