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President Jokowi says new capital construction now underway
The mega project, a key part of President Jokowi's economic agenda, would see Indonesia move its capital from heavily congested Jakarta to an underdeveloped area in East Kalimantan.
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This handout photograph taken and released by the Presidential Palace on March 15, 2022 shows Indonesia’s President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo looking on at sunrise after spending the night at a campsite in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan, where the government will build its new capital city replacing Jakarta. (AFP/Presidential Palace)
E
arly construction of Indonesia's planned new capital Nusantara is now underway, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo announced during a visit on Wednesday, signalling some progress in a $32 billion project that many experts have doubted would materialise.
The mega project, a key part of President Jokowi's economic agenda, would see Indonesia move its capital from heavily congested Jakarta to an underdeveloped area in East Kalimantan.
Jokowi visited the site of a dam on Wednesday and said construction was scheduled to begin next month on a new road to Nusantara. No time frame has been announced for when it will become the capital.
"The existence of this dam shows that basic infrastructure development has started," he said in a statement.
The House of Representatives approved a bill in January that provides the legal framework for development of the new capital, which until now was the most significant advancement so far of an idea toyed with for decades.
But a survey released this month by the Indonesian Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found nearly 59 percent of 170 experts it interviewed were unsure Nusantara would materialise, citing uncertainty over funding and management.
An estimated 19 percent of the its financing would be covered by the state budget, with the remaining funds from public-private partnerships and private investments, according to Indonesia's National Development Planning Agency.
