Jakarta: Indonesia’s plan to construct a brand new capital within the jungles of Borneo now faces a menace. Envisioned as a contemporary image of progress, Nusantara (the proposed capital) is susceptible to turning right into a ghost metropolis. Former President Joko Widodo had provide you with the thought to shift the capital from overcrowded Jakarta to a brand new and greener location by 2030.
However at the moment, the vast roads of Nusantara lie principally empty, lined with future authorities buildings that stay half-finished. Aside from a couple of gardeners and curious guests, there’s little life in what was meant to be the center of a brand new Indonesia.
In line with The Guardian, the scenario worsened after President Prabowo Subianto took workplace in October. His administration has reduce authorities funding for Nusantara by greater than half. In 2024, the undertaking had acquired round 2 billion British pound. For 2025, that quantity dropped to 700 million pound. Solely 300 million pound has been accredited for the subsequent yr, a 3rd of the requested funds. Personal funding has additionally fallen quick, lacking the goal by greater than 1 billion pound.
President Prabowo has not visited town even as soon as since taking workplace. In Could, he designated Nusantara as Indonesia’s “political capital”, although the choice was made public solely 4 months later.
In the meantime, each the top and deputy head of the company overseeing the undertaking resigned in 2024, including to rising doubts about its future.
At current, Nusantara homes about 2,000 authorities workers and eight,000 development employees, removed from the goal of 1.2 million residents by 2030.
The town already has condo towers, ministry buildings, roads, hospitals, water techniques and even an airport. However a lot of it stays underneath development. Students say the undertaking’s unsure route has solid a protracted shadow.
Hardiansyah Hamzah, a constitutional legislation knowledgeable at Mulawarman College in East Kalimantan, mentioned the undertaking had already begun to resemble “a ghost metropolis”. He added that the brand new “political capital” title carried no actual authorized that means in Indonesian legislation and that town was clearly “not a precedence for President Prabowo”.
What was as soon as deliberate as a futuristic showcase for the world’s largest Muslim nation now stands half-built and eerily silent. Its destiny is hanging between ambition and abandonment.