Jakarta. Defense minister and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto went to the new capital Nusantara on Monday -- just a few days before the official election results come out.

The Nusantara megaproject, which calls for mammoth-sized investments, is known to be one of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s biggest legacies after 10 years in office. The likely election winner Prabowo has promised the continuation of Jokowi’s policies, including the new capital. His running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka -- who is also Jokowi’s son -- even once said that the project could spur “new epicenters of economic growth”.

During his Nusantara tour, Prabowo went to the construction site of the state palace, according to a press release by the city's authority body. The government wants to celebrate the upcoming Independence Day on Aug. 17 at the Nusantara state palace's grounds. However, Prabowo will only get inaugurated in October should he win the election. This means that Jokowi will still be leading the Independence Day ceremony this year. 

Prabowo visited the workers’ housing for some talks with representatives from the city’s authority body, Penajam Paser sub-national government, and the Public Works Ministry. The talks revolved around the project’s progress, among others. Prabowo also checked out the parcel of land dedicated to the Defense Ministry. 

Prabowo then posted his experience on the social media platform X on Tuesday. 

"Yesterday, I visited Nusantara to see how things have progressed for Nusantara, East Kalimantan. I got to interact with the workers there. I had the opportunity to listen to their stories and thoughts of developing Nusantara," Prabowo wrote on X. 

"Thank you to all the workers who have worked really hard and persistently to build Nusantara's infrastructure and facilities," Prabowo said.

As of March 18, the construction work of the so-called “core governmental area” has reached 77.83 percent. The state palace and other government-related facilities are in this area.

Indonesia should have the official results of the 2024 election no later than Wednesday.

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