What new Indonesian capital Nusantara can learn from its twin-city Astana
This July saw Astana and the new capital of Indonesia Nusantara become sister-cities based on a memorandum of understanding inked by the Kazakh and Indonesian authorities. Kazinform correspondent sat down with Ambassador of Indonesia to Kazakhstan Mochamad Fadjroel Rachman to talk about why Indonesia decided to relocate its capital city and what Nusantara can learn from Astana’s experience, Kazinform News Agency reports.
When asked why Indonesia decided to move the capital from one city to another after 70 years of independence of the country, Ambassador Rachman said it is mostly about the population.
“Now the population of Jakarta [Ed. note – current capital of Indonesia] is almost 15 million people. It is almost the same as the population in Kazakhstan. The population of Indonesia is under 290 million people. Almost 60% of the population of Indonesia inhabit the Java Island, a small island in Indonesia. And Jakarta is in the Java Island. The Java Island is only one of the islands in Indonesia. In Indonesia, we have 17,700 islands and islets. Jakarta and the Java Island are in the eastern part of Indonesia. It is like Almaty is the southern part of Kazakhstan. So, 40% of the Indonesian population now live in the middle part of Indonesia and the rest – in the western part of Indonesia. So, the first important reason to move the capital is about the population,” he explained.
H.E. Mochamad Fadjroel Rachman revealed the second reason for the move is the territory and better accessibility of the new capital.
He said: “The new capital city is in the Kalimantan island, the biggest island in Indonesia and the second biggest island in the world. Nusantara is in East Kalimantan. It has population of only 5 million people. The new capital city is almost in the middle part of Indonesia. It is like Astana in the middle part of Kazakhstan. The accessibility of the new capital city is better than Jakarta.”
According to the Indonesian diplomat, the third reason is about the spread Indonesia’s economic development.
“Almost 60% of Indonesian economy is concentrated in the Java Island and 70% of Indonesian economy is in Jakarta. 70% of the money in Indonesia stay in Jakarta. The Sumatra Island beside the Java Island is about 20% of the economic size and the Kalimantan Island, the biggest island in Indonesia, is only 8% of economic size,” he said.
Ambassador Rachman went on to remind of two official visits of the Indonesian government to Astana to meet with its administration as well as to check and share the experience in relocating the capital.
Why Indonesia, a country with access to the sea and different climate, chose landlocked Kazakhstan and decided it would be useful to gain Astana’s experience in that respect.
The reason, according to the Indonesian ambassador, is that relocation of the capital city from Almaty to Astana was one of the most successful relocations of the capital city in the world.
“Our president Joko Widodo told me that we had to learn from Astana, from Kazakhstan how to perform the successful relocation of the capital city,” said the Indonesian diplomat. He pointed out that discussion resulted in akim of Astana Zhenis Kassymbek and governor of Nusantara National Capital Authority Bambang Susantono signing the memorandum of understanding with the focus on 15 collaboration areas and making the two capitals the twin-cities.
“On the 3rd of July we signed the MoU on twinning of Astana and Nusantara, the first twin-city of Nusantara in the world. Next year, on August 17, 2024, Nusantara will be announced the new capital of Indonesia,” Mochamad Fadjroel Rachman said proudly.
The Indonesian ambassador also revealed that during his visit to Astana Mr. Bambang Susantono met with Amanzhol Chikanayev, the first senior urban design expert of Astana. They talked and discussed the historical background and the stages of development of Astana city. It was an intense discussion between two urban designers.
Mochamad Fadjroel Rachman also praised the fact that a small city of Akmola with only 250,000 residents had turned into Astana, one of the biggest cities with a 1.4-million population. In his words, it happened with the help of star architect Kisho Kurokawa.
The ambassador added that during its visit the Indonesia delegation visited such landmarks of Astana as Baiterek, Nur Alem, and Khan Shatyr.
