Construction will soon begin on Indonesia’s new capital of Nusantara, a planned city to be created on the east coast of the island of Borneo in what is currently a remote forest.
The first project will be the construction of 184 apartment blocks, but ultimately Nusantara is designed for an initial population of 500,000.
Designed by Indonesian studio URBAN+, the new city will comprise the state palace, legislative buildings for the house of representatives, offices for the bureaucracy and housing.
More than 250,000 hectares of land have been set aside for the new capital, and the site is currently a forest of non-native eucalyptus trees planted for pulp and paper production.
Nusantara derives from two Sanskrit words, and means “between islands” or “archipelago.”
Indonesia announced the plan to move its capital in 2019 in an effort to relieve the environmental pressures on the current capital of Jakarta, and to redistribute wealth.
Jakarta is on the island of Java, which is home to 60% of Indonesia’s 270 million plus population, while the island of Kalimantan – the site of the new capital – is four times the size but home to only 16 million. The closest airport is currently over 100 kilometres away from the new site, and a two hour flight from Jakarta.
The Nusantara project was delayed by the Covid pandemic, but work will recommence in the second quarter of 2023. An army of around 7000 construction workers are currently on site.
The head of the Nusantara National Capital Authority (NNCA), Bambang Susantono, told the World Economic Forum in a presentation that the city would be home to 14,500 civil servants, military and police in its first stage.
The goal is for the city to be carbon neutral by 2030, with the forest acting as a carbon sink with renewable energy used for power and transport.
Nusantara is around 2000 kilometres away from the current capital Jakarta, a megapolis with more than 10 million people.
Jakarta suffers from extreme land subsidence and is at risk from rising sea levels, as around 40% of the city is below sea level. Parts of the city are falling at an estimated 25cm per year.
Choosing the greenfields site for Nusantara has also raised environmental issues, with claims the move risks accelerating pollution in East Kalimantan and could damage rainforests which are home to orangutans, monkeys and bears.
Indonesia is not the only nation building a new 21st century capital. Egypt is currently building a new capital on the outskirts of Cairo, while in recent years Myanmar moved its capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2005.
