MPR Chair: Construction Of New State Palace In East Kalimantan Targeted To Be Completed In 2024

The location of the area will be the construction of the new State Capital in Penajam Paser Utara Regency, East Kalimantan, Thursday (27/1/2022). (ANTARA/Muhammad Zulfikar)

PENAJAM PASER UTARA - MPR Chairman Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet) said the government will aim to target the construction of the new State Palace in Penajam Paser Utara Regency, East Kalimantan, to be completed by August 2024.

"We have seen the location for the new State Palace with a target of completion in August 2024," he said, in Penajam Paser Utara Regency, as reported by Antara, Thursday, January 27.

This optimism was conveyed considering the maximum performance carried out by the Minister of National Development Planning (PPN)/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Suharso Monoarfa, and the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono.

"If the minister is not Mr. Basuki, we might be a little worried. Likewise, if the Minister of PPN is not Mr. Suharso, we are also worried," he said.

However, because the two figures have proven optimal performance so far, for example, building infrastructure on the islands of Sumatra and Papua, Bamsoet believes that the target of building a new State Palace in East Kalimantan can be realized.

According to him, the construction of the new National Capital (IKN) was not sudden or impromptu. The first president, Ir Soekarno, had planned to move IKN to Palangka Raya in 1957.

As time goes on, continued Bamsoet, the need to immediately move IKN is becoming more urgent because of the economic equity factor in the eastern region or region, including reducing the burden on the island of Java, which is increasingly congested.

"Java Island, especially Jakarta, has an extraordinary population growth," he said.

Furthermore, during the time of President Soeharto, the government established the Capital Development Authority. This happened around 1987. After that, the sixth President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also intended to continue but the situation did not allow it.

"This means that the desire to move the capital city from Jakarta has been around for a long time and it is in the era of Mr. Jokowi that it can be realized," he said.