- The Asian island state of Indonesia is to have a new capital in the next few years – newly built in the jungle on the island of Borneo.
- On Monday, the Minister for National Development Planning announced the new name for the city: Nusantara.
- One of the reasons why the government is pushing ahead with the move is that Jakarta is repeatedly affected by flooding due to its low location.
It has been known since 2019 that the capital of Indonesia will be relocated from Jakarta on Java to Borneo in the next few years. Nusantara is to be the name of the new capital, the Minister for National Development Planning announced, citing President Joko Widodo.
Nusantara is an old name for the Malay archipelago, which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
Legend:
The reason why Indonesia wants to build a new capital: Coastal regions are flooded again and again, about 40 percent of Jakarta is already below sea level. The picture is from 2020.
key stone
Parliament is expected to pass the law for the move on Tuesday, which could start construction work on the new metropolis. The move is estimated to cost more than $32 billion.
The first authorities are expected to move to East Kalimantan in Borneo in 2024, just before the end of incumbent President Joko Widodo’s second and final term.
Risk of flooding as a reason for moving
Three years ago, the President announced that a new capital would be built in the Borneo jungle, halfway between the cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda.
The reason for this is that coastal regions of Jakarta with eleven million inhabitants are regularly flooded. About 40 percent of Jakarta is below sea level. Therefore, by 2050, the entire area of North Jakarta could be flooded, experts estimate.
The main reason for the subsidence of the city is the excessive pumping of groundwater. As a result, the groundwater level is falling and the swampy subsoil is increasingly collapsing.