President tries to save construction of new Indonesia capital

Outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo held his first cabinet meeting today in the planned new capital city of Nusantara. The new capital was announced in 2019 under Widodo but has yet to be completed. The city has also been plagued by construction delays and a lack of investment. Widodo wants to reassure investors ahead of his resignation in October.

Suspicions grew last month after two senior officials overseeing the project resigned without explanation. Observers and economists say the project, estimated to cost $35 billion, could be sidelined under the new administration, which wants to allocate the money to social projects.

However, President Prabowo Subianto, who was elected in March and will succeed Widodo later this year, says he is committed to “continuing the project and completing it if possible.” He also estimates the new capital will be “functional” in four to five years.

Widodo’s brainchild

The new capital is the brainchild of President Widodo, who announced the project as an alternative to the current capital, Jakarta. The old capital is in a state of decay, overcrowding and slowly sinking into the ocean. The new capital, Nusantara, is being built on the island of Borneo, 1,200 kilometers from Jakarta. The president’s idea is to spread economic development across the Indonesian islands. Until now, much of the prosperity has been concentrated on the island of Java.

President Widodo has already taken up residence in the new presidential palace, a massive eagle-shaped complex, this weekend ahead of his first cabinet meeting. Political power is slowly shifting to Nusantara, but the capital is still officially Jakarta.

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