MAJALAH CEO (Bangkok) – Chairman of the Nusantara Capital Authority, Bambang Susantono conducted a soft launch of the Voluntary Evaluation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Local Level or Voluntary Local Review (VLR) of the Nusantara, on Thursday (22/02/2024), on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific event. The 11th Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), a forum organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) on 20-23 February 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand. APFSD is an annual forum for the purpose of following up and reviewing progress on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“InsyAllah, we will carry out a soft launch of VLR Nusantara, this is the first in the world for the new capital city to carry out an initial review of the alignment of development planning with SDGs. VLR Nusantara outlines how planning and development strategies in Nusantara New Capital City, both infrastructure and non-infrastructure, are in line with agenda for 2030. Apart from that, the SDGs are also used as a framework for discussing innovation and sustainable challenges in the Nusantara. Different from VLR from various other regions in the world, the VLR Nusantara also carries out an ex-ante analysis of the impact of the presence of Nusantara National Capital City on the SDGs achievements of the region where the Nusantara National Capital is located, namely North Penajam Paser Regency, Kutai Kartanegara Regency and East Kalimantan until 2030. Bambang added that Nusantara New Capital City is the first time to prepare a VLR, but the hope is that it will become a VLR that will have an impact on accelerating SDGs in Nusantara New Capital City and nationally,” said the Chairman of the Nusantara Capital Authority, Wednesday (21/ 02/2024).
This Nusantara SDGs VLR document was prepared by involving both government and non-government parties and received support from the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas as the Indonesian SDGs Implementation Coordinator and cq development partners. UNESCAP, UNRCO in Indonesia, UNDP, and ADB.
In the state intervention delivered by Bambang as Head of the Republic of Indonesia Delegation at the 11th APFSD, Bambang conveyed the importance of localizing the SDGs program down to the village level. “By localizing the SDGs, we not only synchronize the global and national agendas, but we also provide a way for local governments to support the achievement of the SDGs through a bottom-up approach,” he said.
Apart from that, the Chairman of Nusantara Capital Authority also emphasized the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships in achieving the SDGs. “SDGs can only be achieved if all stakeholders are actively involved, including the government and all non-state actors, such as the private sector, civil society and development partners. We have learned that encouraging multi-stakeholder cooperation cannot be left to chance and must be structured strategically, ” he said.
The initiation of VLR SDGs for the Nusantara has been widely appreciated by the world, because it is different from most cities which have VLR when the city has been built. This is in accordance with what was conveyed by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana as Under-Secretary General for the UN and ESCAP Executive Secretary, “We are happy to be able to work together with Nusantara Capital Authority to prepare this VLR. Specifically for the Nusantara VLR, it is different because usually the VLR for cities is generally a kind of evaluation of the assessment is ex-post in nature, for the Nusantara it is different because the city doesn’t exist yet, it has just been built.” she said.*
