Jakarta. Hong Kong has expressed interest to invest in Indonesia’s new capital city Nusantara, although they are also open to other investment opportunities, according to the special administrative region’s Chief Executive John Lee.

President Joko “Jokowi” on Tuesday hosted Lee at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta for talks on economic cooperation. As expected, Jokowi tried to persuade Hong Kong investors to take part in the relocation of the capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan.

Lee on Wednesday told a news conference about Hong Kong’s take on the offer, saying that the project can bring new opportunities into the existing cooperation.

“The building of the new capital is an area that can open up a lot of opportunities. Hong Kong businessmen and professionals are keen to be playing a part in the overall development and building of the new capital,” Lee said.

According to Lee, the purpose of the Jakarta trip is to “look for opportunities”. He also spoke of Hong Kong’s “eight centers” as outlined in its so-called 14th Five-Year Plan. This plan proposes the development of Hong Kong in eight areas, namely finance, trade, shipping, aviation, intellectual property trading, legal and dispute resolution, arts and culture, as well as innovation.

“We have a lot to offer. They are the areas where our experience, expertise, and professional services will be able to contribute to Indonesia’s different areas of development and projects. Of course, the new capital is one of them,” Lee said.

The Nusantara capital city authority body in mid-June reported that the megaproject had amassed over 200 letters of intent (LOIs). About 106 of the LoIs came from domestic investors. Japan became the foreign investor that showed the most interest in Nusantara, submitting 26 LoIs. The Nusantara authority body said that it had received 15 LoIs from China.

The total cost to build Nusantara from scratch stands at Rp 466 trillion (around $31 billion), according to early government estimates. Indonesia only plans to use the state budget to pay off 20 percent of the total costs, with the rest being funded by private investments.

Read More: Turkiye Shows Interest in Indonesia's New Capital Nusantara

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