Inside planning of Indonesia’s new city where 2million will move
Seen from above, the prospective new capital of Indonesia is little more than a network of track roads and concrete exoskeletons today. But the southeast Asian country, home to more than 275 million people, hopes desperately for Nusantara to be ready to house its first 6,000 residents by October, with Jakarta slowly dissolving into the sea 1,200 miles away. With 40 per cent of the capital already below sea level, some 10.6 million people in the inner city (and 30 million in the wider area) could face displacement – and urgently need a longer-term solution. But conservationists and local tribes, settled in the region for generations, warn the project is already starting to disrupt the natural order, cutting off access to water and endangering life.
Construction on the $35bn project of Nusantara began only in 2022, but the Indonesian government hopes it will be ready to open its doors within a matter of months – with completion to coincide with the centenary of independence in 2045. Photos from this year, coupled with stunning CGI projections, show how the plan is taking hold as some 200,000 workers rally to usher in a new era for the archipelago. Situated on the east coast of Borneo, developers have had just two years to clear land and begin work on connecting roads.
From a blank slate, they hope to create a forward-looking, innovative and environmentally-friendly city of the future. With a GDP of 1.32 trillion USD in 2022, the country certainly has the resources to pile into its ambitious project. This will not be without its challenges, as the government hopes to move 1.9 million people from Jakarta on the island of Java to the island of Borneo, some 1,250 miles north. The site of Nusantara – which means ‘archipelago’ or the ‘outer islands’ – was chosen intentionally, however, in line with the country’s geopolitical vision.
As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, and home to the fourth-largest global population, Indonesia is rapidly emerging as a key player in the region. The hope is that the new city’s location will help the nation position itself as a dynamic power in the Indo-Pacific, harnessing nearby shipping lanes for trade.
Nusantara will also, notably, avoid many of the earthquakes , flooding and volcanic eruptions that blight the nation on a fairly regular basis. Only today it was reported more than 12,000 people were forced to evacuate when Indonesia’s Ruang volcano erupted, spewing lava and provoking a tsunami warning.
The new project will cost $35billion in total and house about 1.9million residents once it has been fully completed. The ambition is to settle the first 6,000 civil servants by October 2024, creating a ‘strong foundation for private investments to come in’, per the Nusantara National Capital Authority. The government has pledged just 20 per cent of the staggering $35bn estimate, hoping the rest will come from foreign investors equally excited by the prospect of a convenient new capital. While Indonesia has the urgent incentive to build, the country’s infrastructure budget has been steadily falling since 2017, dipping to just 1.9 per cent of GDP last year down from 2.8 per cent pre-pandemic, according to a Maybank report.
If pressed, the government could increase its own investment, according to officials at the NNCA, as reported by CNBC . Policymakers hope the city will be powered exclusively by green energy by 2024, with views to build a 50-megawatt solar plant in the city. They say Nusantara will adopt a ‘forest city’ concept, with 75 per cent of the metropolis built in green space. And the project has backing from some big names, with the Tony Blair Institute signing a Memorandum of Understanding to build a research centre last year, according to The Jakarta Post. ‘Under the extraordinary endeavor of the IKN Authority, Nusantara is a reality. It’s taking shape,’ the former Prime Minister said at the time.
Since the launch of the plan, conservationists have warned the plan to build a megacity in the deep 140mn-year-old jungles of Borneo could have devastating impacts on local wildlife, however. Orangutan populations in Borneo have declined by more than 50 per cent in just the last 60 years, with their habitats shrinking by 55 per cent in two decades, according to the WWF. Hadi S. Alikodra, a professor in the faculty of forestry and environment at IPB University in Bogor, Indonesia, said the main challenge was how to educate the public about such issues. Wiratno, an official with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, assured : ‘We will intensively educate the workers and all of the people about conservation and how to live among wildlife in this forest city.’
The 256,000 hectare space also threatens Indonesia’s curious proboscis monkeys, which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Indigenous people have raised concerns since at least last year that they may too be ousted by the new project, swept away by the sprawling metropolis. ‘People from the capital are coming. They are pushing us out. They will take my house eventually,’ Sernai, a then-68-year-old villager told Al Jazeera in 2023. She said she has lived in the region all her life, in a home that once belonged to her great-great-grandparents. Already, she sees the knock-on effects of Nusantara’s grand designs. ‘We can’t even get water anymore because the river is blocked. The river used to be our source of life. We would drink from it, bathe there, and use it for cooking. Now we can’t access it anymore,’ she told the outlet, claiming the government gave her family just $3,000 in compensation.
Relocating the capital Jakarta was first broached by president Joko Widodo in April 2019, who cited rising sea levels and severe congestion as the main reasons for the move. Around 10.6million residents live in the city while 30million reside in the metropolitan areas. Climate change has caused sea levels to rise leaving around 40 per cent of the region below sea level. Experts are now predicting up to a third of the city could be underwater by 2050. Mr Widodo said the new capital will be one ‘where the people are close from any destination, where they can bike and walk everywhere because there are zero emissions’. ‘We want to build a new smart metropolis that can be a magnet for global talent and a centre of innovation,’ he said in a speech outlining the vision.
The new city will be governed by a body dubbed the State Capital Authority, with leadership appointed to five-year terms directly by the president. According to the Nusantara website, providing updates on the plan, the first stage of development between 2022 and 2024 will focus on the building of ‘main infrastructure’ including a State Palace, governmental buildings and housing projects for the inbound civil servants. Between 2025 and 2035, developers will look to build ‘innovation and economic centres’. Between 2035 and 2045, Nusantara aspires to become the ‘number one destination for Foreign Direct Investment’ for the country’s main economic centres.
They also aim to be one of the top five main tourism destinations in south-east Asia , sharing mock-ups of hotels in the utopian city. The end-goal is to have Nusantara an internationally-recognised economic powerhouse and ‘the world’s most competitive city’. In purpose-building its capital, Indonesia is following in the footsteps of countries such as Australia and the US. Turkey also famously moved its capital to Ankara in 1923, replacing Istanbul and the historic centre of Constantinople in a deliberate effort to move the country on from its Ottoman past.
More recent capital relocations include Malaysia moving its government to Putrajaya from Kuala Lumpur in 2003, while Myanmar moved its capital to from Rangoon to Naypyidaw in 2006. Brazil shifted its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia in 1960, while Abuja replaced Lagos as Nigeria’s capital in 1991.
Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.