REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The expansion process of the US Embassy which is located in Jalan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, is estimated to be completed in 2018.
"Right now our current estimate is that the building will be completed in 2018. And if you go by our embassy now, you can see that it is making good progress," the US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O Blake Jr. said here Wednesday.
Built in an area of 3.6 hectares, Ambassador Blake has ensured that the building would look stately and make the people of Jakarta proud.
"We are very pleased by the progress and we think that Jakarta would be very proud of the result," he stated.
In addition, the US Embassy building would put forward the concept of green buildings equipped with the good technology of energy conservation and water management, as being promoted by Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok), he emphasised.
The new US Embassy building would be also facilitated with a cultural center to support the US government's public diplomacy programs beside those which are held at @america.
When he was asked whether the US Embassy buildings in Jakarta would be listed as the largest US Embassy in the Southeast Asia, Ambassador Blake could not confirm it yet.
The construction of the US Embassy in Jakarta was started at the end of 2012 when the previous Ambassador Scot Marciel was still taking charge.
Besides Jakarta, the US government has other diplomatic offices such as US Consulate General in Surabaya (East Java), Bali, and Medan (North Sumatera).