The country that is building a new capital: the current one is sinking at a rate of 7 inches per year

Climate change has taken its toll on Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The city, with a population of around ten million, has faced numerous problems such as air pollution, flooding, and underground water extraction, the latter causing part of the city to be below sea level.

As a result, the authorities have decided to draw up a plan to establish a new capital for the country by creating a city from scratch. This city is called Nusantara, which means “Indonesian archipelago,” located on the island of Borneo, more than 1,000 kilometers from Jakarta, which is still the Indonesian capital. Construction began in August 2022, and it was inaugurated last year.

The city is the result of a project launched in the year before the pandemic as part of the government’s plan to move the capital to another city, at a cost of more than $45 billion. Despite this huge investment, many in the country fear that it will end up becoming a “ghost town.”

So far, various types of infrastructure have been built, such as hospitals, roads, residential and government buildings, water systems, and an airport, as reported by The Guardian. Nusantara will maintain the status of “political capital” in the country from 2028 onwards.

It will be in that year when, predictably, the country’s main institutions, including the State Palace and those corresponding to the legislative and judicial branches, will move to this city. However, we will have to wait until 2045 to see this city practically completed.

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