Indonesian govt ‘not abandoning Jakarta’ for new capital

The Indonesian government is not abandoning Jakarta after announcing plans to move the country’s capital and will spend $40 billion to save the slowly sinking city in the next decade, the planning minister said.

The current Indonesian capital will undergo a 571 trillion rupiah ($40.18 billion) urban regeneration in the next 10 years, more than the $33 billion expected to build a new capital city on Borneo island, Bambang Brodjonegoro told Reuters.

“Jakarta is the center of everything in Indonesia. What we are moving out of it is the center of administration, but finance [centers], businesses and trades will stay,” Brodjonegoro said. Jakarta is home to more than 10 million people and three times that number when counting those who live in surrounding towns.

The government expects to begin moving to the new capital city in the East Kalimantan province in 2024.