Nusantara: Indonesia’s new capital city is 80% complete

Nusantara’s airport is scheduled to be completed by early August

In this photo released by Indonesian Presidential Palace, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, center, inspects the presidential palace construction site at the new capital city Nusantara in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Wednesday, June 5, 2024 (Indonesian President Palace)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Wednesday that the first phase of the country’s ambitious new capital is 80% complete.

The President said that he will have an office there once clean water is available next month with construction almost complete.

“I am very optimistic about the office. We are still waiting for one more thing, the water, in July,” Widodo said in front of the construction site of the new presidential palace in Nusantara on the island of Borneo.

Widodo told reporters during his visit to Nusantara that the new capital will be officially inaugurated during celebrations for the republic’s 79th Independence Day in August.

Construction of the new city began in mid-2022 after Widodo announced that Jakarta would no longer have capital status. The metropolis suffers from pollution and congestion, is prone to earthquakes and is rapidly sinking.

The new capital is to be about twice the size of New York City. Officials say it will be a futuristic green city centered around forests and parks that utilizes renewable energy sources and smart waste management.

In this photo released by Indonesian Presidential Palace, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, center, talks to journalists after he inspected the presidential palace construction site at the new capital city Nusantara in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Wednesday, June 5, 2024 (Indonesian President Palace)

But the project has been plagued by criticism from environmentalists and Indigenous communities, who say it degrades the environment, further shrinks the habitat of endangered animals such as orangutans and displaces Indigenous people who rely on the land for their livelihoods.

Widodo has been in Nusantara since Tuesday, a day after the surprise resignations of the head of the Nusantara Capital Authority, Bambang Susantono, along with his deputy, Dhony Rahajoe, for unexplained reasons. Widodo said the resignations were “personal” and were unlikely to hamper future foreign investment in the project already valued at $32 billion.

During his visit, Widodo is inaugurating several construction projects in Nusantara, including a water reservoir. He is also attending groundbreaking ceremonies for schools and universities.

Widodo said Nusantara’s airport is scheduled to be completed by early August.

The new city was announced in 2019. “As a large nation that has been independent for 74 years, Indonesia has never chosen its own capital,” Widodo said in a televised speech. “The burden Jakarta is holding right now is too heavy as the center of governance, business, finance, trade and services.”