Located at the mouth of the Ciliwung River on the northwest coast of Java, Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia.
About 10 million 600 thousand people live there. people, and about 30 million people live in metropolitan areas. However, the city will disappear under water – about 40 percent. Its surface is already below sea level. Environmental experts warn that a third of Jakarta could be underwater by 2050 if current rates continue.
The Indonesian government plans to move the capital to Nusantara. A new town is being built on the east coast of Borneo, about 1.4 thousand km North of Jakarta. The cost of this investment is estimated at USD 35 billion. And it will be completed only in 2045. However, it is expected that approximately 6,000 government employees will travel there ahead of the presidential inauguration in October.
The first result was forced by climate
However, the decision to build a new capital is not unprecedented. In 1960, Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, and in 1991, Abuja replaced Lagos as Nigeria's capital.
However, this is the first time that the climate crisis has played a role in this process. In recent years, rising sea levels have made Jakarta the world's fastest-sinking megacity, prompting the Indonesian government to decide to relocate the capital.
A fresh start
Let's take a look at Nusantara. In August 2019, Indonesian President Joko Widodo approved a plan to move the capital from Jakarta to Nusantara.
Construction work on the new capital site
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Firdous Vajdi/Anatolu/Getty Images
The location in East Kalimantan was chosen because of its proximity to the sea and low risk of earthquakes, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions.
Nusantara means “outer islands”. The city's name was chosen to reflect President Widodo's geopolitical vision and to emphasize Indonesia's insular nature. A country of 276 million people has a population of over 17,000. Islands.
The future capital is located on Borneo, one of the largest islands in the world. Known for its 140 million year old rainforests. These forests are home to endangered native species such as the Bornean orangutan.
Three-quarters of the island is Indonesian territory, with the rest occupied by Malaysia and Brunei. Borneo has a total population of about 23 million people.
Construction of the new capital is already underway
Construction of the new city began in July 2022. Initially, about 100,000 people worked at the site. People, and as the work progressed, this number increased to 150-200 thousand. People.
From 2022, a network of roads in the forest has been marked, thanks to which the construction of government facilities and residential buildings can begin. Below you can see how the location of futures capital changed between April 2022 and February 2024.
According to the project's website, the initial population is expected to be around 500,000. People and Government Indonesia is committed to fully greening the city
By 2045, Nusantara will be a “green metropolis” powered entirely by renewable energy, policymakers say. For this purpose, a 50 MW solar power plant is to be built by the end of this decade and only electric vehicles will be used by the end of this decade.
Construction is already underway on Indonesia's new capital
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Firdous Vajdi/Anatolu/Getty Images
Many world famous politicians are involved in this project. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan are members of Nusantara's board of directors. In October 2023, the Tony Blair Institute signed a deal to build a research center in the new capital. But it is not known where the money will come from
Although the city is expected to cost about $35 billion, the Indonesian government has pledged to provide only about 20 percent. This amount and in March 2022, Japan's SoftBank withdrew from the program.
The text above Translated from the US edition of InsiderProduced entirely by the local editorial office.
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