Jakarta, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, will no longer be the capital of Indonesia, or so the country’s planning minister said this week as he announced that the president was embarking on a bold new plan.
Bambang Brodjonergoro said that President Joko Widodo, who says he won re-election this month (although official results won’t be released until May 22), was planning to do what leaders before him had promised but failed to deliver – move the capital city.
He didn’t say where the new capital would be, or a time table for this to happen.
Jakarta city is home to some 10 million people and is one of the fastest growing in the world – rocketing from just 4.5 million people in 1971 – but the wider Jakarta region is now home to almost 30 million, up from just over 8 million in 1970.
Congestion costs the country billions a year and the capital is simply overcrowded, with large slums forming around the edge.
The city also has another issue – it is sinking. Researchers believe large parts of the city will be underwater by 2050 and has already sunk 2.5 meters in the last 10 years. This is because the city is built on a costal swamp crisscrossed by numerous rivers. Much of it is already below sea level.
Mr Brodjonergoro said the process could take a decade but added that if others – like Brazil or Australia – could manage it then so cold Indonesia.
