Indonesia’s current capital is in deep trouble. Drained of its vital groundwater reservoirs, Jakarta has become one of the
To relieve this logistical nightmare, Indonesia has drummed up a plan: relocate the capital from Jakarta to Nusantara in East Kalimantan – a city that doesn’t exist yet. This master plan involves the translocation of the capital’s administrative infrastructure, plus around 1.9 million people, from Indonesia’s main island Java to the sparsely populated island of
The idea of
By February 2024, however, images from the same vantage point show how the settlement is slowly starting to take form. The new satellite images reveal how soil has been exposed to make way for a network of roads and infrastructure development amidst the wild backdrop.
The
Judging by the recent satellite imagery, there is still a very long way to go before Nusantara becomes the proud capital it dreams to be.
Critics have started to hit out at the Indonesian government, arguing there’s a lack of transparency on the progress of the project.
As ever, money is a problem. Many
There are also big concerns about its environmental impact. The government claims Nusantara will be run on 100 percent renewable energy by 2045 while promoting it as a “smart, green, beautiful, and sustainable city”. However, many scientists believe it
“Deforestation emissions from the new capital’s direct (30 kilometers [18.6 miles]) and indirect (200 kilometers [124.3 miles]) footprint could be approximately 50 MtCO2e [megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent] and 2326 MtCO2e, respectively, equivalent to 2.7–126 percent of Indonesia’s 2014 greenhouse gas emissions,” said a
Borneo is a hive of biodiversity and home to numerous critically endangered species like the Bornean orangutan and Sumatran rhinoceros, as well as charismatic characters like the clouded leopard. Authorities insist that wildlife will be given the utmost protection, but environmentalists
In June 2023,
“Fortunately, the new capital is sited on a coastal site more than 200 kilometers [124.3 miles] away from the Heart of Borneo ecoregion, which will spare Borneo the brunt of the immediate direct impacts. However, indirect spatial impacts can be very large, and along with environmental justice issues arising from further marginalization of disadvantaged groups, present a significant downside to the new capital’s development that must be preempted,” the 2020 paper continues.