Indonesia taps Tony Blair and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince for advice on new capital city

President Joko Widodo announced last August Indonesia’s capital will move from overcrowded, sinking Jakarta to a site in East Kalimantan province on Borneo island

The capital’s relocation to a 180,000-hectare site almost triple the size of Jakarta will cost an estimated US$34 billion

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President Joko Widodo announces the location of the country’s new capital city. Photo: EPA

Published: 10:13am, 15 Jan 2020Updated: 10:44am, 15 Jan 2020

Abu Dhabi’s crown prince has agreed to lead a committee that will oversee the construction of a new capital city for Indonesia that is estimated to cost US$34 billion, an Indonesian official said on Tuesday.

Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said it would be “an honour to play a role in the development of the largest Muslim-majority country,” Indonesian Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said in a statement.

The committee will also include Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and chief executive of Japanese holding company SoftBank, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who currently runs the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, he said.

“We expected their presence would provide a confidence boost for prospective investors in the new capital,” Luhut said.

The location of Indonesia’s planned new capital.

The minister also offered Mori territory in Central Sulawesi province as a potential investment for Sheikh Mohammed, The Jakarta Post reported.