JAKARTA: President of Indonesia Joko Widodo on Monday chaired the first cabinet meeting in the country’s new capital of Nusantara.
Widodo formally launched the capital relocation project worth US $33 billion in 2019. This has been widely viewed as an attempt to seal his legacy before the end of his second term in October.
The outgoing president has been working since late July from the city, located in the East Kalimantan province on Borneo island. The city in less than a week will host its first Indonesian Independence Day celebration.
“The Nusantara capital is a canvas that carves the future. Not all countries have the opportunity and the ability to build their capital city starting from zero,” Widodo told his ministers during the meeting.
Nusantara is located more than 1,200 km away from the current capital Jakarta. The decision to relocate the capital was intended to ease the burden on the old center of government, which faces traffic congestion, overpopulation, and pollution.
Another aim of the decision of the government is to reduce redistributing wealth across Indonesia. Java island which hosts Jakarta, is home to around 56 percent of the population of Indonesia and nearly 60 percent of economic activity.
President Widodo said investors have so far committed about US $3.53 billion in different projects, including in education, transportation and housing.
As construction of Nusantara started in mid-2022, buildings in the new city are still not completed.
The project is criticised by environmentalists and indigenous communities for carving out land from Borneo’s jungle.
