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View all search resultsGBK set for major revamp after takeover of hotel
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This aerial picture taken from a helicopter shows a general view of the sport facilities at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium (center) and other fields and venues for the upcoming 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta on March 29, 2018. (AFP/Adek Berry)
T
he government plans to transform Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Sports Complex into a world-class sports and tourism hub after reclaiming a disputed state-owned plot within the complex that had long been occupied by a commercial hotel.
President Prabowo Subianto has instructed Investment and Downstream Minister Rosan Roeslani to expand tourism activities at the state-owned sports center in Central Jakarta, with the goal of turning the area into a new economic growth engine.
Rosan, who also serves as chief executive officer of state asset fund Danantara, said the revamp of the 200-hectare GBK complex and its surrounding areas would establish a “new icon” for Indonesia.
“The area will be comprehensively redesigned, not only within the GBK itself but also including the golf range [situated across the sports complex],” he said on Monday. “Everything will be upgraded and refined to world-class standards so it can serve as a new economic hub in Jakarta.”
The plan follows the government's takeover of a plot of land known as Block 15 within the GBK complex, where the Sultan Hotel, operated by private company PT Indobuildco, had stood since 1973.
After the Central Jakarta District Court in 2025 rejected the company’s claim to building rights over the property, authorities moved to take control of the site on June 18, deploying thousands of police and military personnel. The operation was met with resistance from a group of Sultan Hotel supporters, who staged a protest outside the complex.
The takeover marked the culmination of a decades-long dispute between the government and Indobuildco, founded by former Pertamina president director and military figure Ibnu Sutowo. The company was granted building rights by then-Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin in 1973 for an initial 30-year period.
