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View all search resultsPrabowo affirms commitment to new capital city in first visit as president
Questions about the fate of the Nusantara capital city project have lingered since Prabowo took office in October 2024.
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A helicopter carrying President Prabowo Subianto lands in front of the Presidential Palace in Nusantara Capital City (IKN) on Jan. 12, 2026. (The Jakarta Post/IKN)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto reiterated his commitment to a $32 billion project to build Indonesia's new capital city as he made his first overnight stay there as president, the government said.
Questions about the fate of the Nusantara capital city project have lingered since Prabowo took office in October 2024.
The project is a legacy of his predecessor, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who first announced his plan to move the capital 1,200 km (745 miles) away from overcrowded Jakarta in 2019.
Construction of the city in a remote, southeastern part of Kalimantan only began in 2022 after delays due to the pandemic and Jokowi missed his target of moving the government by the end of his second and final term in 2024.
Analysts have said Prabowo is unlikely to have the fiscal space to fund his key programmes while continuing to build Nusantara, which Jokowi had envisioned as a green, futuristic capital surrounded by forest.
Prabowo's visit, scheduled until Tuesday, "marks an important momentum for the journey to build the Nusantara capital city," his office said in a statement late on Monday.
"President Prabowo's presence in Nusantara demonstrates the government's commitment to ensuring the development in the area proceeds according to plan and is sustainable," it said.
The Nusantara National Capital Authority, which oversees the development, said in a separate statement that offices and supporting infrastructure for the executive branch were ready.
Construction was underway to meet a completion target of 2028 for buildings for the legislative and judicial branches of government, it said.
Prabowo last year approved a budget of Rp 48.8 trillion rupiah ($2.89 billion) for the project until 2029, only about 60 percent of what Jokowi spent between 2022 and 2024.
Prabowo's government ran a budget deficit of 2.92 percent of GDP in 2025, among the largest in two decades and close to a legal deficit ceiling of 3 percent of GDP.
The Constitutional Court last year halved the maximum duration of land rights for investors in Nusantara, dealing another blow to the project.
City authority head Basuki Hadimuljono said last year that projects in a smaller executive area housing the palace and ministries in the government core were "already 97-98 percent" complete.
He claimed Prabowo wants to move in 2028 before the next presidential election, once the legislative and judicial areas are finished.
As president-elect, Prabowo said he wanted to "continue, if possible finish" the capital move, but since taking office he has yet to express any plans to sign the presidential decree needed to shift from Jakarta.
