Abandon Jakarta: Indonesia again mulls plan for new capital

Indonesia’s decades-long discussion about building a new capital has inched forward after President Joko Widodo on Monday approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta.

Widodo decided at a special cabinet meeting to move the capital outside of Indonesia’s most populous island, Java, said Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. It was one of three options discussed. The other alternatives were moving to a location near Jakarta or staying put and relocating all government buildings to a special zone around the presidential palace.

The site for a possible new capital hasn’t been announced, but Palangkaraya on the island of Borneo has often been rumoured as the location. Brodjonegoro, however, said eastern Indonesia is favoured.

“This is a big job, impossible to take just one year, it could take up to 10 years,” he said.

Prone to flooding and rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled groundwater extraction, Jakarta is the archetypical Asian mega-city creaking under the weight of its dysfunction. Only 4 per cent of Jakarta’s waste water is treated, according to the government, causing massive pollution to rivers and contaminating the groundwater that supplies the city. Congestion is estimated to cost the economy US$6.5 billion a year.