Is Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara a vanity project or a viable blueprint for the future?
Despite questions and controversy, Indonesian officials insist Nusantara will be ready to host Independence Day on Aug 17. It is meant to replace the current capital, Jakarta , which is beset by pollution, congestion, and is also considered the world's fastest sinking city.FILE PHOTO: A general view of the city skyline of Jakarta , the capital city of Indonesia, August 5, 2021. One takeaway I have so far is that Nusantara is very far away.
Now, the initial argument is that moving the capital will ease the burden on Jakarta. But this may not necessarily be true because the opposite may just happen. Making Jakarta a global city may, in fact, increase the burden. For example, as a global city and an economic hub, Jakarta will surely attract more people to work and live there, right? And this may not solve the issue of overpopulation in the city. When there is overpopulation, it will then stress the city's infrastructure, worsening the problems of traffic congestion and pollution.
The local government said it needs 600 trillion rupiah or nearly US$37 billion to transform Jakarta into a global city. Where they going to get the money? We don't know. The Jakarta administration is currently designing a roadmap to transform the metropolis into a global city. The roadmap will detail Jakarta's long-term development plans for the next 20 years.
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