The Indonesian Parliament has passed a law to relocate the country’s capital from Jakarta to Nusantara. This is the most significant advancement of an idea the country’s leaders have been toying with for years.
The new state capital law, which provides a legal framework for President Joko Widodo’s ambitious $32 billion mega project, also stipulates how development of the capital will be funded and governed.
“The new capital has a central function and is a symbol of the identity of the nation, as well as a new centre of economic gravity,” Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa told parliament after the bill was passed into law.
The plan was formulated as Jakarta is prone to flooding amid climate change. The sinking megacity also suffers from chronic congestion and air pollution.
Monoarfa said that the relocation of the capital city to Nusantara is based on several considerations, regional advantages, and welfare and with a vision of the birth of a new economic centre of gravity in the middle of the archipelago.
President Joko Widodo first announced the capital would be relocated in 2019, but the move was delayed due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
Jakarta sits on the swampy ground near the sea – making it especially prone to flooding – and is one of the fastest-sinking cities on Earth, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). It has been dropping into the Java Sea at an alarming rate due to the over-extraction of groundwater.
Jakarta is also one of the world’s most overpopulated urban regions. It is home to more than 10 million people, with an estimated 30 million in the greater metropolitan area, according to the United Nations.
The name of the new city has been chosen by Widodo. It is a Javanese term which translates to “archipelago” in the Indonesian language. It is located within the jungle of Kalimantan on Borneo island.
