SEPAKU, Indonesia : A top Indonesian official pledged on Wednesday that construction on a new capital city deep within the jungles of Borneo island would not stall when the presidency changes hands next year as new incentives were unveiled to encourage investment.
Nusantara is President Joko Widodo's flagship project and is envisioned as a green, smart city spanning nearly 260,000 hectares to replace the current overcrowded and rapidly sinking capital of Jakarta on Java island. Under an incentives' package announced on Wednesday, the government will remove corporate tax for companies investing at least 10 billion rupiah in some sectors for 10 to 30 years, with the longest tax holiday applied to infrastructure and public services up until 2035.
The government will also provide land rights for 95 years, extendable by the same period, far longer than elsewhere in Indonesia.