Why Indonesia is building a whole new capital

Pop quiz! What is the largest

capital

in Southeast Asia, nicknamed Big Durian, and the fastest sinking city in the world? Jakarta! It is the

capital

of Indonesia, but it won't be for much longer. It has suffered endemic pollution, flooding and overcrowding. Trafficking alone costs the country up to $5 billion a year in economic losses. The government's solution? Build a new capital, from scratch, on the island of Borneo. It is called Nusantara and is promoted as a utopian and efficient capital that runs on green energy. "If the implementation is so poor, instead of being a model city for Southeast Asia, it will be a disaster." But what are the consequences of

building

a city from ground zero?

And will this really solve Jakarta's problems? Before we dive into Nusantara, we need to understand what is happening in Jakarta. The city is literally sinking, at a rate of up to 25 centimeters a year in some areas. Some researchers say a quarter of the city will be underwater by 2050. The biggest problem is that Jakarta is pumping too much groundwater. More than 60% of the population depends on groundwater wells. In reality, this is a legacy of colonialism. When the Dutch colonized the city in the 17th century, they called it Batavia and built it with a canal system intended to reduce flooding but also segregate the population.

They used unbridged canals to separate ethnic groups and create a colonial system of social stratification. This was typical of colonial urban design and can also be found in many Indian cities such as Calcutta, Kochi and Chennai. "Jakarta was at that time a small Amsterdam in the colony." These are the words of Eka Permanasari, professor of urban design at Monash University, south-west Jakarta. "They created the walls, they built all these canals, but they forgot that Indonesia is a tropical country." In short, Southeast Asia is not Northern Europe and the channels did not work. They became clogged by sedimentation from the irregular flow of water and the stagnant water spread diseases.

Europeans moved their settlements further south and eventually developed water pipelines for themselves, leaving most of Batavia with groundwater wells. This colonial infrastructure remained even after Indonesian independence in 1945. As Jakarta grew, streets were paved over canals, skyscrapers were built, and soon the city became polluted, overcrowded, and regularly flooded. The idea of ​​moving capital has been around for a few decades. It surfaced during the Suharto dictatorship in the 1980s and resurfaced in 2010. But in 2019, President Joko Widodo finally approved a roughly $33 billion plan to build a new capital, from scratch, on the east coast. from Borneo. Your new name?

Nusantara, an old Javanese term for archipelago. Jokowi has said publicly that the move aims to take economic weight off Jakarta and would develop Indonesia's economy in historically underserved regions. "This entire high-value industrial sector is based on Indonesia's comparative advantages such as land, water (also for hydropower), raw materials and labor force." This is Chun Sheng Goh. He is an expert on sustainable development in Southeast Asia. With this move, Indonesia will join a list of other capitals built from scratch such as Brasilia, Canberra and Islamabad. With many Indian cities like Delhi also facing similar problems, Nusantara could be the latest case study for possible solutions (or hard lessons learned).

So the big question is... what is Nusantara supposed to be like? Like this. Or what it's supposed to be, at least. Nusantara, which will be about twice the size of New York City, will cover more than 2,500 square kilometers in East Kalimantan province. Currently, the area is covered in eucalyptus plantations, so the new capital would not enter a protected forest. In the government's plan, Nusantara will be a green, hyper-connected digital utopia amidst a lush landscape. It will be powered entirely by renewable sources, will have very accessible public transport and 75% will be covered in green spaces. But why is the government launching such a huge undertaking? "Indonesia has never shied away from expressing its hunger for modernization and industrialization.

It has taken a very pragmatic approach to achieving its dream of making the leap towards a high-income country." Currently, more than half of the country's GDP comes from the island of Java, where Jakarta is located. Goh says moving capital is just part of the country's broader development strategy, which is to boost a green industrial economy in the Kalimantan part of Indonesia. Do you want proof? Just look at where the dams are being built. The government is

building

five hydropower plants on the Kayan River to accelerate industrialization. President Widodo is planning the world's largest green industrial park north of Nusantara.

Because? Well, Indonesia has the largest nickel reserves in the world. And as Elon Musk has made very clear, we will need a lot of them for those batteries. The new capital will be part of this entire regional development plan. But at what price? The move will displace indigenous people, who make up 20% of Indonesia's population. At least 20,000 people from 21 indigenous groups are at risk. Property prices are already rising in nearby Balikpapan, and indigenous residents feel let down. And it's not just about humans. Borneo is also home to many endangered species such as the proboscis monkey, Bornean gibbon and Sunda pangolin.

The Bornean orangutan, in particular, has faced a massive population decline and will be severely affected by the new capital. "The bay will be like a transportation gateway to the capital area, it is the water gateway to the capital area. And at the same time it is where all the protected species are." East Kalimantan is rapidly losing its forests to industries such as oil palm and logging. Mangroves and peatlands, which are important carbon sinks, are also disappearing. Scientists are concerned about the impact of the indirect ecological and carbon footprint, which could extend 200 kilometers from the center. Local economies that depend on mangrove forests, such as fishing, will also be at risk of complete displacement.

Nusantara's green plans look great on paper, but there's only one... big bummer. "The new capital is actually located inside the coal." Four of Indonesia's five largest coal plants are located in East Kalimantan. This means that much of the energy that will be used to build the capital will come from there. This could mean disastrous pollution for the area, and raises eyebrows over how the capital will deliver on its zero-emissions promise by 2045. "If you're talking about building a green city, you also need to address emissions from building materials." Speaking of which , currently only 11.5% of Indonesia's national energy is renewable.

The government has included solar and wind energy in its plans for Nusantara, but what is the concrete plan for its energy plan? Nobody knows. Everything is quite uncertain when it comes to Nusantara. But it would be quite natural to consider the resources they have – hydropower and coal – to power the city." And what about... "Jakarta, Jakarta, Jakarta, what is going to happen to the city? They have their own new capital, but don't forget Jakarta, because Jakarta is still sinking." The government has made many attempts to solve Jakarta's chronic problems, without success. It has tried cloud seeding, taxing groundwater use and develop alternative sources.

But these solutions require massive capital and strict implementation, which has not happened. The only strategy that works right now is a massive $40 billion project to improve the existing seawall in the form of a. mythical bird, called Garuda. Who is back on the scene for this? "The Dutch government, interestingly, built this huge, giant Garuda." It will also have 17 artificial islands that are supposed to house hundreds of thousands of residents. It was problematic, due to its enormous size. After recovery, it closed the bay and created an exclusive city on top of Jakarta." But it does not even address the main cause of Jakarta flooding, which is land subsidence.

Some analysts say that the Garuda Giant is a national construction project in which Dutch companies, Indonesian officials and property developers can benefit from lucrative contracts "The Dutch are making a comeback, aren't they? So that's another dimension of reading the city, from the colonial to the postcolonial." The project, already mired in corruption, will take 30 to 40 years to complete. And even if all that is done, Jakarta will still be an economic center. Moving a few million people to Borneo will not solve its problems. Nusantara is only in the initial phases of construction. It will be at least 20 years before we see the city and its impacts. "It depends. of the definition of success.

It's interesting that government buildings, like we've seen in Myanmar, just have new buildings somewhere else and call it a new capital. If this is the scenario, then relocation doesn't bring much impact." The scorecard for cities built from scratch is quite patchy. Brasilia ended up notoriously segregated, Naypyidaw in Myanmar is mostly a ghost city, and Abuja in Nigeria is It urbanized rapidly but had no affordable housing for residents, creating slums. And don't forget New Delhi: the British Raj made it the new capital of India in 1911 after moving it from Calcutta. worst air pollution in the world. New capitals are often post-colonial nation-building projects.

They begin with lofty utopian goals, but often fail to achieve them and always come at a high cost to the environment and local people. You have to be very careful with that. And the first thing is that they must understand it. The decision makers are not aware that there are some hidden impacts that they cannot see. "If it turns out that it is just because of the political agenda, it is not going to work. A good city is a city for everyone. It is inclusive, there is a life, there is a soul within that city." "Indonesia is not the only country planning a new capital at the moment: Egypt, South Korea and Equatorial Guinea are just some of the countries planning or already They build new headquarters.

What about where you are? Tell us in the comments below and be sure to like and subscribe, we have a new video every Friday. Until next time!