JAKARTA: The Geological Agency of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has conducted a survey, study, evaluation, and analysis of geological data to update the geological information on Indonesia’s new capital (IKN), Nusantara.
The land where the IKN core area will be built has difficult water conditions, Sub-coordinator of the agency’s Center for Groundwater Resource and Environmental Geology (CGREG) Tantan Hidayat informed here on Friday.
“It is recommended to use surface water or look for other alternatives,” he said at a news conference regarding volcanic and ground movement disaster information.
The survey conducted by the agency included regional thematic geological mapping, especially for the IKN core area.
Based on geological aspects, the land suitability of the core area of IKN Nusantara falls in the medium to low category.
Therefore, he said, the capital city’s development will involve moderate to high costs because water needs would be rather difficult to meet.
The morphological conditions of the land range from gently sloping to steep terrain, apart from the presence of shrinking clay stones that will need special handling, he added.
“The development of infrastructure and facilities must pay attention to the risk category in accordance with Indonesian National Standard (SNI) 1726:2012,” Hidayat said.
Meanwhile, the Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry is preparing the availability of raw water for IKN Nusantara until the year 2100.
The capacity of Sepaku Semoi Dam, which is currently under construction, will be up to 2,500 litres per second (l/s). The dam will provide raw water at two thousand l/s to IKN Nusantara and 500 l/s to Balikpapan city in East Kalimantan.
In addition to the dam, the PUPR Ministry is also building infrastructure to allow water intake from the Sepaku River at three thousand l/s for meeting the raw water needs of the new capital.
