Government Plans to Redesign the GBK Senayan Complex
Minister of State Secretariat (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi has revealed the government’s plan to overhaul and redesign the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Complex in Senayan, Jakarta.
“So what we actually want is to redesign the whole of GBK, especially the sports and commercial areas,” Pras said at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Monday (20/7).
Pras said the government intends to provide comprehensive facilities within the GBK complex, ranging from commercial facilities to hotels.
“We will later combine it into one with the JCC, the Jakarta Convention Center. Perhaps we want to have something even more modern, including sports facilities,” he said.
Pras is targeting GBK to become a venue for international sporting events, not limited to football alone.
He cited, for example, aquatic sports and tennis.
Pras said that to achieve this target, there are requirements that must be met if the complex is to host international events.
“The hope is that going forward this will become The New Icon of Jakarta,” he said.
Pras said that following the redesign plan, the government has revoked a number of work contracts that had not yet been executed.
He said the government is still continuously refining the new design for the GBK complex going forward.
In addition, the government is also continuing to approach potential investors who will put capital into developing the GBK Complex.
“There are [investors] from abroad, and there are from within the country. Domestically, we of course now have Danantara, the state-owned enterprises. Several times the leading sector has also been our friends at InJourney,” he said.
The GBK area is still located in the same district as the Indonesian parliament complex, namely in Gelora Urban Village, Tanah Abang Subdistrict, Central Jakarta.
The GBK area was built during the era of Indonesia’s first President, Sukarno, as the main venue for the 1962 Asian Games. The area was subsequently designed as a symbol of the grandeur and resurgence of the Indonesian nation. Since then, the area has continued to develop, undergoing renovations and the addition of sports facilities.
One such effort was ahead of the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, during which the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (SUGBK) was refurbished.
Most recently, the state has just taken over the area of the Sultan Hotel, which sits within the complex, after roughly half a century of private control under a Building Rights Title (HGB) scheme.