A general view shows under-construction buildings that will be used by several coordinating ministries in Nusantara, East Kalimantan. - AFP
JAKARTA: Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Rini Widyantini says the government has no plan to start relocating a large number of civil servants and government workers to the planned new capital Nusantara under construction in East Kalimantan.
Rini said the current priority for the government was to renew its database on civil servants, especially following the decision by President Prabowo Subianto to spin off ministries under his administration, as well as the formation of new ministries and government agencies.
"In the short-run we're not going to touch the plan to relocate personnel. Where will these people move to? I no longer have the data now, everything has changed," Rini was quoted by Antara as saying. Rini added that transferring civil servants to Nusantara would be more complicated now that the number of ministries and government agencies had ballooned.
"We have built 34 towers for all ministries and we already have a list of people to be relocated, but with all the ministries being divvied up, we have to find out where all the people have gone," Rini said.
The capital project, an initiative of former president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, seeks to move the country's seat of power about 1,200 kilometres away from Jakarta to Nusantara, located in a jungle in East Kalimantan.
Soon after being inaugurated in October last year Prabowo said he wanted to complete key government and legislative buildings in the US$32 billion new capital city in the next four years. Key government buildings in Nusantara, like the presidential palace and some state officials housing, have recently been completed, while toll road and airport construction is underway.
The government initially planned to start transferring government workers to Nusantara in October last year before pushing back the deadline to January this year. – The Jakarta Post/ANN
