Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto has officially put ex-minister Basuki Hadimuljono in charge of the body that oversees the development of Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara.

Basuki was previously the acting head of the Nusantara Capital Authority, succeeding Bambang Susantono who resigned in mid-2024. Bambang was at the helm of the agency for around two years and was later appointed to strengthen international collaboration related to the city’s development. Basuki used to be the public works minister under the preceding Joko “Jokowi” Widodo government.

Basuki took his oath of office for his new role at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday. Shortly after his inauguration, Basuki revealed to the press that he would focus on constructing the judicial and legislative facilities in the new capital over the coming years.

“If we are talking about Nusantara’s central government district, we still need to build the judicial and legislative facilities. So the facilities for the judicial, executive, legislative bodies -- including the housing for their officials -- must be ready by 2028,” Basuki said.

The freshly appointed authority head plans to speed up the construction work of the remaining public infrastructure. Basuki intends to bring in investors to help Indonesia build its new capital that would replace the metropolitan city, Jakarta.

The government has spent about Rp 86 trillion (about $5.5 billion) to fund the new capital construction. “Investments that have come to Nusantara totaled about Rp 58 trillion as of the last groundbreaking ceremony before [Prabowo’s inauguration] on Oct. 20,” Basuki said.

Former President Jokowi had been pushing to relocate the country’s capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan in a project that would cost $33 billion. By having the capital far from Java, Indonesia would be able to enjoy more inclusive economic growth. Prabowo had vowed to continue the ambitious capital relocation, even saying that he had invested in its development as a businessman.