Relocation of Indonesia’s capital city ‘one of the biggest question marks’ of Jokowi’s leadership: Analyst

Even as Indonesian president Joko Widodo underscores his presidential achievements as he approaches the end of his term, his plan to move the country’s capital from megacity Jakarta to East Kalimantan will be “one of the biggest question marks” of his leadership, an analyst said on Wednesday (Aug 16), following Mr Widodo’s annual State of the Nation Address ahead of the country’s 77th Independence Day.

The proposed new capital, Nusantara, is the flagship project of Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, and is expected to be a green, smart city spanning nearly 260,000 hectares. It will take a vast sum of money to partially bring the plan into fruition, Emeritus Professor Greg Fealy told CNA’s Asia Now.

“As much as Jokowi wants it to be his signature element of his 10-year presidency, I think once he leaves office in October next year, his successors are going to have to look at this very closely,” said Prof Fealy, from the Department of Political and Social Change at the Australian National University

“It’s going to absorb so much money and that money could potentially be used for a whole lot of other things that will deliver a bigger dividend for Indonesia nationally.

While Mr Widodo is likely to be able to partially open the new capital, which is slated to be officially declared in the first half of 2024, there are “increasing doubts” on whether the full plan of the capital city relocation will take place, he said.

The project has attracted very few international investors and will create enormous pressure for Indonesia if the country has to fund most of it independently, he added.

The relocation is expected to come with a price tag of US$34 billion.