Jakarta. Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan has hinted at Turkiye’s interest in helping Indonesia construct its new capital city Nusantara. 

Economic cooperation has become an inseparable part of diplomatic talks, and Fidan’s meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Saturday afternoon in Jakarta was no exception. According to Fidan, Turkiye sees the construction sector as a new area of bilateral cooperation. As Indonesia works on relocating its capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan, Turkiye says it can lend its construction expertise.

“Construction cooperation can be a new field, especially in the framework of setting up Indonesia’s new capital city Nusantara,” Fidan told reporters in a joint press conference with Retno in Jakarta on Saturday.

“Turkish contractors are well-suited and experienced to realize major projects,” Fidan said.

The European Construction Industry Federation report wrote that the construction sector accounted for 5.4 percent of Turkiye’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employed 1.5 million people in 2020. The report also revealed that Turkish construction companies were expanding their global footprints by booking €12.8 billion (around $14.4 billion) worth of new projects. Turkish companies had also realized 10,700 projects —worth totaling €361 billion -- on five continents and 128 countries over the past 5 decades.

Early government estimates put the total costs for the Nusantara capital city at Rp 466 trillion ($31 billion). Indonesia only plans to use the state budget to pay off 20 percent of the total costs, while relying on the private sector to cover the rest of the megaproject.  

Public Works Minister Basuki Hadimuljono revealed in early June that the progress on the first phase of the Nusantara construction works had hit 29.45 percent. Phase 1 of the construction is expected to finish by 2024. The government has set a goal to celebrate Indonesia’s 79th independence day on Aug. 17 next year in Nusantara.