The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) wants the National Capital City (IKN) Nusantara in Penajam Paser Regency, East Kalimantan (Kaltim) to be a new investment space for the medium and long term. "The relocation of the capital city as an investment area is not only for the government but we want to provide, facilitate, medium and long-term investment," said Deputy for Economics at the National Development Planning Agency Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti in the Indonesia Economic Outlook 2022 quoted from Antara, Wednesday (26/1). She conveyed that relocating the country's capital city to East Kalimantan could create a new economy to balance the economy between regions in Indonesia. "Investment and exports will be the key to recovery. This means that while we are recovering, the government must provide good facilities, a big playing field for investors to invest in Indonesia," she said.
Not only that, IKN is expected to be able to build a new national identity as a smart, green, beautiful, sustainable, modern, and international standard capital city. This effort is also expected to be part of accelerating economic recovery after the pandemic. "One thing that can encourage the movement of the economy in IKN is infrastructure development, including logistics infrastructure, basic infrastructure, and other supporting infrastructure," said Amalia. The government is also preparing an economic development strategy in the new capital area, where Samarinda and Balikpapan will be supporting cities. According to her, Samarinda will become the center of a sustainable energy sector and a manufacturing base for renewable energy. Meanwhile, Balikpapan will be the node for the downstream process of the oil and gas processing industry into petrochemical products. Furthermore, the area around the IKN will be developed into six clusters, including the clean technology industry cluster, the integrated pharmaceutical cluster, the sustainable agriculture cluster, the ecotourism cluster, the chemicals and chemical product cluster, and the low-carbon energy cluster.
