Jakarta’s Crisis Existential
As the world wrestles with the increasingly worsening effects of climate change, Jakarta—the frenetic capital of Indonesia—finds itself at the center of an unfolding crisis. Experts predict that one-third of the city could be underwater by 2050; meanwhile, 40% of Jakarta sits below sea level. The National Public Radio recently called Jakarta “the fastest sinking city on the planet.” What to do about this have-to-find-a-solution scenario?
In response, the Indonesian government has hatched a grand plan to pick up and move the capital to a newly created city called Nusantara over 800 miles away on the island of Borneo. But this project is not merely a monumental logistical shift; it is also a pivot of the nation toward something that has been called “upward modernity.”
The Audacious Relocation to Nusantara
The move of Indonesia’s capital to Nusantara is visionary in its attempt to solve many of the environmental and socio-economic problems of the present-day capital of Jakarta. However, if its planning, investment, and public engagement components don’t come off in a reasonably competent way, it could turn into a costly mistake: an environmental and logistical misadventure of sorts.
The Nusantara project holds far more importance than just the building of a new city. The plight of Jakarta epitomizes a deepening global crisis where urban centers are threatened by climate change and overpopulation. Rising sea levels threaten Indonesia; according to the World Bank, it is one of the nations most vulnerable to climate change. Relocating the capital is a push to address long-standing inequalities of wealth and resources between Java, the current location of the capital, and the less developed regions of the archipelago; Java accounts for around 60% of the national economy. Nusantara’s promise of a high-tech, sustainable city powered entirely by renewable energies budgeted at $33 billion has come under intense scrutiny. Can Nusantara deliver?
Economic Effects and Disparity Among Regions
Since the Dutch colonial period, Jakarta has been Indonesia’s capital, a historical legacy that has made it the nation’s political, economic, and cultural hub. However, the city now has serious problems that come from being so overstuffed with people and things and from poor urban planning. This has long made the Indonesian government think about what it has to do to get a new capital. But it could only decide to go with Nusantara and to fill a central spot in East Kalimantan because climate change and the city going underwater was the final reason it had to leave. The Central Spice Islands, with less climate threat, were also considered, but East Kalimantan was chosen.
The project has a lot going for it, but it still has to overcome some serious obstacles. The first stage of construction, which covers the most basic of essentials, is supposed to be done by the summer of 2024. Reports that have come out this year say that only about 80% of the work has been completed, though we’re told the contractors have a handle on things and that really should be no more than half of a “hurdles story.” Most of the apparent problems are meteorological and logistical. The Indonesian government is only committed to 20% of the total project’s budget—an amount that’s just about half of what’s called for in the first phase. It can’t seem to find any foreign backers for the project.
An Uncertain Future and Political Trials
Nusantara is portrayed as a sustainable solution to Jakarta’s ecological disaster, but many environmentalists take issue with the project. They say it is a direct threat to the biodiversity of the area it is being built in, which is a tropical rainforest. They also say indigenous communities that have lived in the area for a long time are now being moved to make way for the new city. Advocacy groups don’t have a precise number of how many indigenous people will be uprooted by the new city, but they estimate it could be as many as 20,000.
The $33 billion budget for the ambitious project raises some fundamental questions about funding. With principal backers such as SoftBank now out of the picture, the Indonesian government is confronted with a classic ‘chicken-and-egg’ situation: To get the project off the ground, they need investment. But to get investment, they need to demonstrate that the project has a good chance of succeeding. So far, the trend of backing the project with real cash has been disheartening, to say the least.
Nusantara is President Joko Widodo’s legacy project, but its success depends on political and public support. The presidential election in 2024 adds another layer of uncertainty to the situation. If a new president comes in and decides to take the mantle off Nusantara, for example, chances are good that the project could die.
The government’s idea to shift the capital away from Jakarta might deepen ordinary Indonesians’ already serious sense of political disconnection. Critics argue that this geographical shift may worsen the already troublesome political voice issue for citizens and deepen their political disaffection.
Supporters of Nusantara say the project is a step toward modernization and a more equal distribution of development in this vast archipelago. They argue that it is needed to relieve Jakarta, our current capital, of its overpopulation and that it will help with some presently insurmountable environmental problems—problems that “Nusantara,” somehow, could be part of a solution to. Now, this step could be called a next necessary vision. But if we look a little closer, the critics have some advantages here, too, especially with their argument about our current energy situation and a grand vision.
For everyday Indonesians, the Nusantara project brings both hope and uncertainty. On the hopeful side, it presents the promise of a modern, sustainable city that could enhance regional development and provide new economic opportunities. The uncertainty, however, lies in the umbrella of risks that the project could mismanage, financial shortfalls could overwhelm, or social dislocations could create. As the new capital navigates these complexities, what ultimately happens in Nusantara will have a profound effect on Indonesia’s future.
Indonesia’s Nusantara project reflects the country’s hopes and dreams for an ecologically sustainable and socially just future. But how the project plays out will depend on a local-to-global level on the planning, the investment, and the engagement with local communities that can make any megaproject succeed.
At this moment in time, what is happening in and around Nusantara is a spotlight opportunity for the world to see a nation with the fourth-largest population (270 million people at last count) attempting to create an urban center that can be a model of 21st-century resilience.