An artist’s take on the planned new presidential palace in Nusantara The Indonesian government will begin construction of the first government buildings in its new capital, Nusantara, in August, the country’s Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said, according to Bloomberg. The minister added that infrastructure development will also begin, including water systems, sanitation and toll roads. Indonesia plans to move its capital from overcrowded, polluted and sinking Jakarta to East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The move is also aimed at redistributing economic activity and development outside Indonesia’s richest island of Java. “what is…
Indonesian government to start construction of first government buildings in its new capital archipelago In August, the country’s Minister of Public Works and Housing, Basuki Hadimuljono, said, Bloomberg News.
The minister added that infrastructure development will also begin, including water systems, sanitation and toll roads.
Indonesia plans to move its capital from overcrowded, polluted and sinking Jakarta to East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The move is also aimed at redistributing economic activity and development outside Indonesia’s richest island of Java.
“The most important thing is that we want to be Indonesia-centric, not Java-centric,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a recent report.
“When we draw a line from west to east and north to south, the central point is this East Kalimantan province,” he added.
Sustainable Cities in the Rainforest
Nusantara is planned as an environmentally friendly city that will run entirely on renewable energy, despite criticism that its construction could threaten one of the world’s oldest tropical rainforests.
The cost of building new capital from scratch is estimated to be between $32 billion and $34 billion, so funding is far from secured.Japan’s SoftBank, a former potential backer, said it would not participating Funded by Nusantara.
Asian Development Bank has Say It will support Indonesia in building a new capital by “mobilizing” funds, with Indonesian officials even suggested Crowdfunding is one of the sources of financing.
Public support for Nusantara wanes
Meanwhile, support for the new capital has fallen from initially high levels when 2020 is actually announced, according to a national survey by independent survey agency Indonesia Political Indicators.
In 2020, 53% of Indonesian citizens said they strongly or strongly agreed with the plan to relocate the capital, but this approval dropped slightly to 48.5% in 2022. While in 2020, only 33.6% said they disagreed or strongly disagreed, in 2022, the level of public disapproval increased to 44%.
This means that, unlike in 2020, current public attitudes are more divided between those for and against Nusantara. Analysts attribute this largely to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which is likely to reduce public support for the new capital in the 2022 survey, noting that the public health crisis has lowered its overall priority among citizens.
