Jakarta. Property companies association Real Estate Indonesia, or REI, recently announced that its global tour to attract investors to fund Indonesia's new capital city in East Kalimantan had ended on a high note.

"Almost all potential investors have expressed interest in investing in the new capital, provided that there is a legal certainty, a clear legal framework, an attractive public-private partnership scheme, and a feasible business," Rusmin Lawin, REI's deputy chairman for foreign relations, said in a press statement on Monday.

Indonesia plans to relocate its capital from Jakarta to a new city, which will go by the name Nusantara in East Kalimantan. Nusantara is also an Indonesian and Malay language, rooted in ancient Javanese, to call the Southeast Asia archipelago. 

REI recently went on a roadshow to the US, Europe, and the Middle East to bring foreign investors into Nusantara.

"We hope the government's goal of having 80 percent of this mega project funded by national and foreign private sectors can be met," Rusmin, who also serves as the president of the International Real Estate Federation (Fiabci) for the Asia-Pacific region, said.

The new capital project would cost $35 billion, according to the government estimation. The government expected the new capital development to commence in stages until 2045. Still, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was adamant that he and his ministers could enter their new offices in Nusantara in 2024. 

Since early 2020, REI has been promoting this new capital project to several strategic stakeholders across the globe. 

In the Middle East, REI had met in person with the chairpersons of Dubai's property giants, such as Emaar Properties Group's Mohammad Alabbar, Damac Properties Group's Hussain Sajwani, Azizi Developments Group's Mirwais Azizi. 

REI has also met with Dubai Property Holdings, Diamond Developers chief executive officer Salah Hasan Habib, Dubai's Ritossa Family Office, and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Saeed bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan Group representatives.

"In Abu Dhabi, REI lobbies with the top management of the Masdar Group, ADQ Group, Mubadala Group, and the higher-ups of the Fiabci Emirates led by Mahmoud Al Burai," Rusmin said.

The stakeholders that REI has had talks with within Asia included the Enterprises International Singapore (IES), Hong Kong Trade and Development Council (HKTDC), the Japan Conference on Overseas Development of Eco-Cities (J-Code), National Agency for Administrative City Construction (NAACC). It also talked with Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda), Astaka Holdings, Jana DCS Group, AWS Group, Malaysia's KVG Group. 

In Europe, REI has also discussed the new capital project with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, Bulgarian Industrial Association, Switzerland's 2000 Watt City Society Association, Spain's Fundación Metrópoli, and Germany's Immobilien Makler AG. 

REI has campaigned the Nusantara megaproject in Central Asia to Tashkent Trade and Investment Department, Kazakhstan Networking Partners Group, Aristan Group, and Mallow Islands Group. 

REI is working with Silicon Valley's investment and real estate expert Lawrence Souza and Georgetown University's global investment expert William Endsley in the US. 

It has also discussed investment opportunities with real estate firms such as Cascadia Development Partners, Eco-Industrial House, Yareton Investment Funds, Chinese American Real Estate Association, Cora Global.

"As well as financing firms like Hannover Bank, We Lend Group, Express Capital Financing, Chase Bank, and Empire Bank," Rusmin said.