Indonesia’s grand strategy
An undeveloped tract of jungle on an island known more for orang-utans than lawmaking may seem an unlikely place to construct a new capital city.
However, for Indonesia, the primitive landscape of Nusantara proved a more attractive option than its current capital, Jakarta, dubbed by some experts as the world’s fastestsinking megacity.
Moving the capital from Jakarta has been discussed for many years in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago. But the plan finally came to fruition this weekend, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, hosting Independence Day celebrations in Nusantara, the future capital city, on Saturday.
Here’s what to know about Indonesia’s new capital city.
Why is Indonesia moving the capital from Jakarta?
Jakarta, on the island of Java, has been the capital of Indonesia since the country declared independence from the Netherlands on August 17, 1945. (The Dutch recognised Indonesia’s independence four years later.)
In the years since, Jakarta has ballooned into a city of 10.5 million people, with the larger metropolitan area home to some 30 million people. But it’s sinking rapidly, and experts have said that parts of the metropolis are expected to be uninhabitable, or otherwise flood frequently, by 2030.
In 2022, Indonesia passed a law outlining the relocation’s funding and governance. The commission in charge of planning the new city said it was “imperative” to relocate the capital from Jakarta “due to the significant strain” that the city and the island of Java were experiencing from “factors such as heavy traffic congestion, environmental pollution, and dense populations.”
What will the new capital be like?
According to Indonesia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the aims of the move are no less than transforming the nation’s economy and catapulting it toward status as a developed country. So, no pressure.
Jokowi said in the Nusantara Capital Authority’s 2023 “Achievement Report” that the new capital was part of “Indonesia’s grand strategy”, the 2045 Golden Indonesia Vision, which aims to make Indonesia a developed nation by 2045, the centennial of its independence from the Netherlands.
According to the Capital Authority’s plans, over the next two decades, Nusantara will grow into a burgeoning, sustainable city.
A series of phases aim to build commercial infrastructure and housing, government offices and mass transit in the city.
While sustainability is a central tenet of the new city’s plans, the project has been criticised by environmental advocates who argue it is inherently not environmentally friendly to clear jungle to make way for a new metropolis.
Planners hope the new capital avoids a similar fate as Jakarta, calling Nusantara a “sponge city”.
“This means the Nusantara region will possess the capacity to assimilate precipitation into the soil, thereby preventing flooding,” the report said. There are other ambitious targets. By 2035, the city aims to have a 0% poverty rate. (In 2022, nearly 1 in 10 Indonesians lived in poverty, according to the World Bank.) By 2045, the city is aiming to achieve net-zero emissions.
On Saturday, Jokowi, the president, held what was supposed to be the grand unveiling of the city, celebrating Indonesia’s Independence Day.
But the ceremony was a bit muted amid various delays and setbacks in construction.
The celebrations were split between Jakarta and Nusantara out of concerns about the readiness of the future capital. Some diplomats were uninvited from the Nusantara festivities and asked to go to Jakarta instead, the Financial Times reported.
The ceremonies “took place in a hybrid manner,” Jokowi wrote on X. “Praise God, everything went smoothly and solemnly.”
Which other countries have built new capitals recently?
Nusantara joins a small group of capital cities founded in the last century. In 1960, Brazil inaugurated Brasilia as its capital. Built not in a jungle but on a desolate savanna, Brasilia similarly features modern architecture. UNESCO describes Brasilia as “a definitive example of 20th century modernist urbanism.”
When supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro stormed through Brasilia last year, ransacking buildings, the architecture provided a backdrop described by some as “dystopian”.
More recently, Egypt started construction on a new capital to replace Cairo. Facing problems of urban density, pollution and snarling traffic, the new city — currently referred to as the New Administrative Capital — will be built to the east of Cairo.