Indonesia is moving its capital city away from Jakarta.
Indonesia plans to move its capital city from Jakarta to an undecided location outside of the Java Island, according to the country’s planning minister.
The decision is mainly based on Jakarta’s growing problem of traffic congestion and periodic flooding. The city is also ‘sinking’ due to over-extraction of ground water.
The country is expecting to spend $33 billion to facilitate the move.
“The idea of moving the capital city has long emerged since President Soekarno’s era, up until it constantly been talked in every presidency,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said.
“In Java, the population is 57 per cent of the total for Indonesia, or more than 140m people, to the point that the ability to support this, whether in terms of the environment, water or traffic in the future, will no longer be possible so I decided to move outside Java,” he explained.
The economic loss due to traffic congestion in Jakarta is estimated to be at $7.04 billion per year.
According to a government official, the three likely candidates to become the new capital city of Indonesia are Palangka Raya, Tanah Bumbu and Penajam, all on the island of Borneo.
The final decision will not be announced until President Widodo’s general election win earlier this month is made official in May.
[adblockingdetector id="638efa67113bf"]