Will Indonesia’s ‘rainforest city’ capital bring health risks to residents?

Name: Indonesia passes law to relocate capital from Jakarta to Borneo
Uploaded: 2023-02-23T10:30:11.000Z
Duration: 2 min 44 s
Description: Indonesia passes law to relocate capital from Jakarta to Borneo

The rainforest from which Nusantara city will be carved out is home to several endemic diseases, including mosquito-borne malaria and tuberculosis

Experts say increasing development in the area might lead to a heightened risk of human exposure to some natural pathogens

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Nusantara is set to replace sinking and polluted Jakarta as Indonesia’s political centre by late 2024. Photo: AFP

Amy Sood

Published: 6:30pm, 23 Feb 2023Updated: 7:59pm, 23 Feb 2023

As Indonesia accelerates construction of Nusantara, the country’s US$30 billion new capital, there are fears the city, built to ease pressure on Jakarta, will expose new residents to endemic diseases and impact the unique ecology of the carved out rainforest that will house the metropolis.

If all goes to plan, Nusantara, located in east Kalimantan and occupying 2,560 sq km, should be transformed into Indonesia’s political centre by the end of 2024, replacing Jakarta, the heavily-congested and sinking capital of 10 million people, as the heart of the country.

After a pandemic-induced delay, the government has this year hastened plans to develop extensive infrastructure on the Borneo island site.

Coming out of a pandemic, it should be important for the government to pay attention to the public health aspect of this project

Tjandra Yoga Aditama, University of Indonesia

But experts warn the public health needs of a new city in a rainforest are unpredictable with the spread of infectious diseases a very real threat – as the coronavirus and its likely animal-to-human transmission have shown.

“As we are still coming out of a pandemic, it should be very important for the government to strongly pay attention to the public health aspect of this project,” said Tjandra Yoga Aditama, a professor from the University of Indonesia’s medicine faculty.

“At this point, we are hearing talks about the new state palace, the tollways and the architecture, but not so much about how the government will deal with the public health situation,” he added.

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Indonesia passes law to relocate capital from Jakarta to Borneo

The region – which hosts one of the world’s largest and oldest stretches of tropical rainforests estimated to be more than 100 million years old – is home to a number of endemic diseases including mosquito-borne malaria, tuberculosis and lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis.