Banjarbaru, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Governor Sahbirin Noor believes South Kalimantan will be chosen as the state capital of the country because of the many advantages possessed by the oldest province on the island of Borneo.
"We as regional head believe South Kalimantan to be chosen as the capital of the country," he said on the sidelines of a national dialogue to move the state capital with a theme "Toward the Future State Capital" in the city of Banjarbaru on Monday.
He said, South Kalimantan has advantages such as 30 thousand hectares of land has been prepared by two points and meets the requirements of land area to cover the entire land for the capital.
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Another advantage, the age of the earth rocks of Kalimantan, including the South Kalimantan, reached 250 million years that it is free of earthquakes and volcanoes that are relatively far from natural disasters and other disasters.
"Kalimantan, especially South Kalimantan, is free from disasters both earthquakes and volcanoes, in addition to the strategic position of South Kalimantan that has a number of other supporting facilities," he pointed out.
He described, South Kalimantan, which has a population of 4 million, has more readiness to become the state capital, both in terms of infrastructure, with its airports, seaports to transportation routes and socially preparedness.
It has five airports namely Syamsudin Noor, Warukin Tabalong Airport, Bersujud Batulicin Airport, Gusti Syamsir Alam Kotabaru Airport and Mekar Putih Airport.
South Kalimantan also has four ports, namely Trisakti Banjarmasin Port, Tanah Bumbu Seaport, Stagen Kotabaru Port, and Mekar Putih Port.
Read also: South Kalimantan has advantages of being the state capital
"The advantage of the social side is that the population of four million is more and most important is a friendly society it can become capital to attract investors," he said.
South Kalimantan, he said, was also known as the ulama region and had two great scholars namely Syech Muhammad Arsyad Al Banjari and KH Zaini bin Abdul Ghani or familiarly called Abah Guru Sekumpul.
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The national dialogue held by Bappenas presented resource persons Deputy Regional Development Division of the BPN/Bappenas Ministry Rudy S Prawiradinata.
Then South Kalimantan Governor Sahbirin Noor, Lambung Mangkurat University Rector Sutarto Hadi, Environment Minister for 2006-2011 Gusti Muhammad Hatta, ULM Faculty of Social Sciences Dean Taufik Arbain and moderated by Hendricus AM.
