JAKARTA: Indonesia will move its capital to the eastern edge of jungle-cladBorneo island, President Joko Widodo said Monday, as the country shifts itspolitical heart away from congested and sinking megalopolis Jakarta.
The proposed location – near the regional cities of Balikpapan andSamarinda – is an area at “minimal” risk of natural disasters, where thegovernment already owns some 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of land, headded.
“The location is very strategic – it’s in the centre of Indonesia and closeto urban areas,” Widodo said in a televised speech.
“The burden Jakarta is holding right now is too heavy as the centre ofgovernance, business, finance, trade and services,” he added.
The announcement ends months of speculation about whether Widodo wouldfollow through on the long-mooted plan – it was floated by the newlyindependent country’s founding father Sukarno more than half a century ago.
Shifting from problem-plagued Jakarta would also transfer Indonesia’s powerbase off Java island, where about half of the sprawling archipelago’s 260million people live.
“Moving the capital off Java is a gesture that aims to solidify unity,”said Jakarta-based political risk analyst Kevin O’Rourke.
“Jakarta will continue to be a megacity – as a centre for finance andcommerce – for a few more decades, but ultimately it is at severe risk toclimate change,” he added.
A bill for the proposed move will now be presented to parliament, Widodosaid.
Building is set to begin next year with the move of some 1.5 million civilservants slated to begin by 2024, at a cost of 466 trillion rupiah ($33billion), officials said.Orangutans, mining
Known as Kalimantan, Indonesia’s section of Borneo – the island it shareswith Malaysia and Brunei – is home to major mining activities as well asrainforests, and is one of the few places on Earth with orangutans in theirnatural habitat.
Environmentalists expressed concerns the capital city move could threatenendangered species.
“The government must make sure that the new capital is not built in aconservation or protected area,” said Greenpeace Indonesia campaignerJasmine Putri.
The region has also been blanketed in choking haze from annual forest firesthat ravage vast swathes of land.
“That makes Kalimantan unfit as a candidate for a new capital city,” saidJakarta-based urban planning expert Nirwono Joga.
“And the move won’t necessarily free Jakarta of problems like flooding,traffic jams and rapid urbanisation,” he added.
Concerns have soared over the future of Jakarta – a city nicknamed “the BigDurian” after the pungent, spiky fruit that deeply divides fans anddetractors.
Built on swampland, the city is one of the fastest-sinking cities on earth,with experts warning that one third of it could be submerged by 2050 ifcurrent rates continue. The problem is largely linked to excessivegroundwater extraction.
But the city of 10 million – a number that bloats to about 30 million withsurrounding satellite cities – is also plagued by a host of other ills,from eye-watering traffic jams and pollution to the risk of earthquakes andfloods.
Indonesia is not the first Southeast Asian country to move its capital.
Myanmar and Malaysia have both moved their seat of government, whileBrazil, Pakistan and Nigeria are among the nations that have also shiftedtheir capital cities. -APP/AFP