Keeping The Government's Promise Of A 'Green' New Capital

JAKARTA - The construction of the country's capital city (IKN) in East Kalimantan has left some worries. Will the government be able to guarantee the existence of forests and the environment is not disturbed? We interviewed Sibarani Sofian, the winner of the IKN design competition to explain the development concept that was initiated.

If we glance at the big concept of the construction of a new capital city called "Nagara Rimba Nusa", we can hope that. Sibarani explained, Nagara Rimba Nusa consists of three meanings. Nagara which means city or government, Rimba which adapts the geographical conditions of East Kalimantan which is dominated by forests, and Nusa which means Indonesia as an archipelagic country.

With these three concepts, Sibarani believes that development oriented to harmony between humans and nature can be achieved. It is hoped that all this alignment will have an influence in the direction of policies that the government will take in the future.

"So, if we can really orientate towards natural elements like this, surely our government can be close to nature. And we can embrace natural policies or nature wisdom to harmonize the relationship between humans and nature and humans and God. "said Sibarani when met by VOI at his office, some time ago.

The government, according to Sibarani, gave directions on four broad outlines of development that must be carried out for the new capital city. The first is the greening concept. Second, smart city. Furthermore, the government mandates the development of a new capital city with Indonesian centric values, which means that it reflects Indonesia's characteristics in its development.

"And the last addition from Pak Joko Widodo is a city that is competent for the international level. So a city that has an international class."

Sibarani is optimistic that the development goal can be carried out. According to him, the construction of the new capital will be easier. The reason is that most cities in Indonesia today are legacies of past history. That is what makes today's city planning difficult to fix. Never mind fixing the city so that it is in harmony with nature. It's hard to keep a city that is human-friendly today.

We can actually see the development of a nature-oriented city from the proportion of development listed in the master plan. In the grand design of development, the government sets the proportion of forest at 70 percent, compared to the urban proportion which is around 30 percent.

"Now we have the opportunity to start from scratch. From zero, we should be able to achieve the concept of equality or the concept of balance between humans and nature because our formulation starts from zero. And whatever is best, we take from the various cases we can get. we apply there. And because of that, the soul of the master plan is how we are oriented to nature. "

We must record all the explanations delivered by Sibarani. That way, we can control the implementation of the development concept which is said to be in harmony between humans, nature, and even their relationship with God. And as Sibarani said, hopefully environmentally oriented development can lead government policies to a more 'harmonious' direction.