The opening of parts of Nusantara to the public following years of closed-door construction has whipped up enthusiasm and drawn visitors, including foreign tourists, to the country’s future capital in East Kalimantan.
Some 300 visitors on the opening day on Monday awaited their turn to hop on the electric shuttle bus that would take them to the city, often seen as the legacy project of outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and which made its debut during the Aug. 17 Independence Day celebrations last month.
Ayu and her family from Balikpapan, some two hours’ drive from Nusantara, were among the first visitors on Monday. She told Kompas.com that she and her family had made the trip from the coastal city in the early hours of Monday morning.
“Since the new palace is close enough to Balikpapan, I took advantage of this opportunity. In my opinion, the development of Nusanatara must continue, because it turns out that after I saw it, the progress has been so significant,” she said.
The Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority announced on Sunday that Ceremony Plaza and Kusuma Bangsa Park inside Nusantara would be open to the public every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a maximum of 300 visitors a day.
To take a tour of the city, visitors need to register themselves on a Nusantara-dedicated app called IKNOW and take the electric shuttle bus that will drop them at the station near the plaza and the park where they can walk around and enjoy the scenery.
Ceremony Plaza is a sprawling field that directly faces the State Palace and the Garuda Palace, and is also fitted with a mini amphitheater, forest trail, retail gallery and visitor center.
Kusuma Bangsa Park covers nearly 2,000 square meters and has sculptures designed by renowned Balinese artist Nyoman Nuarta, who was also responsible for designing the steel blades of the Garuda Palace structure that emulate the wings of the mythical Garuda bird, the nation’s symbol.
According to news reports, there were also visitors from East Kalimantan’s capital of Samarinda and Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, as well as those all the way from the current capital of Jakarta on the opening day on Monday.
German couple Vera and Valentine were also in attendance. They had been traveling around Indonesia for two months and made the trip to East Kalimantan just to see Nusantara firsthand because of the buzz around the new capital project worldwide.
“I really like that people can walk everywhere, that is not really common here in Indonesia. Also the buildings here look very nice, and the palace is huge and amazing,” Valentine told Kompas.com.
The IKN Authority said the quota for Monday ran out in less than an hour, although this did not stop even more people flocking to Nusantara even though they did not have permits to enter.
Adhiguna Mahendra, a staffer at the IKN Authority office for digital and green transformation, was quoted by Kompas.com as saying that the total number of people that visited Nusantara on Monday reached 4,000.
IKN Authority spokesperson Troy Pantouw said it was hoped that opening Nusantara to the public would promote the city’s development and increase public participation in the process.
“The goal is to let the public experience Nusantara in person and witness its progress,” he said. “I interacted with them at the Ceremony Plaza. They expressed pride and excitement about seeing the city they’ve only seen in the media.”
While the government is still rushing to complete infrastructure projects in Nusantara, a presidential decree on the formal transfer of the capital from the sinking and congested Jakarta to Nusantara is yet to be issued by Jokowi, who will leave office next month.
Nusantara’s opening to the public came just a week after Jokowi gathered his ministers for the last cabinet meeting at the Garuda Palace before the inauguration of Prabowo Subianto as the next president on Oct. 20.
Asia News Network/The Jakarta Post
Some 300 visitors on the opening day on Monday awaited their turn to hop on the electric shuttle bus that would take them to the city, often seen as the legacy project of outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and which made its debut during the Aug. 17 Independence Day celebrations last month.
Ayu and her family from Balikpapan, some two hours’ drive from Nusantara, were among the first visitors on Monday. She told Kompas.com that she and her family had made the trip from the coastal city in the early hours of Monday morning.
“Since the new palace is close enough to Balikpapan, I took advantage of this opportunity. In my opinion, the development of Nusanatara must continue, because it turns out that after I saw it, the progress has been so significant,” she said.
The Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority announced on Sunday that Ceremony Plaza and Kusuma Bangsa Park inside Nusantara would be open to the public every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a maximum of 300 visitors a day.
To take a tour of the city, visitors need to register themselves on a Nusantara-dedicated app called IKNOW and take the electric shuttle bus that will drop them at the station near the plaza and the park where they can walk around and enjoy the scenery.
Ceremony Plaza is a sprawling field that directly faces the State Palace and the Garuda Palace, and is also fitted with a mini amphitheater, forest trail, retail gallery and visitor center.
Kusuma Bangsa Park covers nearly 2,000 square meters and has sculptures designed by renowned Balinese artist Nyoman Nuarta, who was also responsible for designing the steel blades of the Garuda Palace structure that emulate the wings of the mythical Garuda bird, the nation’s symbol.
According to news reports, there were also visitors from East Kalimantan’s capital of Samarinda and Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, as well as those all the way from the current capital of Jakarta on the opening day on Monday.
German couple Vera and Valentine were also in attendance. They had been traveling around Indonesia for two months and made the trip to East Kalimantan just to see Nusantara firsthand because of the buzz around the new capital project worldwide.
“I really like that people can walk everywhere, that is not really common here in Indonesia. Also the buildings here look very nice, and the palace is huge and amazing,” Valentine told Kompas.com.
The IKN Authority said the quota for Monday ran out in less than an hour, although this did not stop even more people flocking to Nusantara even though they did not have permits to enter.
Adhiguna Mahendra, a staffer at the IKN Authority office for digital and green transformation, was quoted by Kompas.com as saying that the total number of people that visited Nusantara on Monday reached 4,000.
IKN Authority spokesperson Troy Pantouw said it was hoped that opening Nusantara to the public would promote the city’s development and increase public participation in the process.
“The goal is to let the public experience Nusantara in person and witness its progress,” he said. “I interacted with them at the Ceremony Plaza. They expressed pride and excitement about seeing the city they’ve only seen in the media.”
While the government is still rushing to complete infrastructure projects in Nusantara, a presidential decree on the formal transfer of the capital from the sinking and congested Jakarta to Nusantara is yet to be issued by Jokowi, who will leave office next month.
Nusantara’s opening to the public came just a week after Jokowi gathered his ministers for the last cabinet meeting at the Garuda Palace before the inauguration of Prabowo Subianto as the next president on Oct. 20.
Asia News Network/The Jakarta Post
