Context
Indonesia has decided to relocate the nation’s capital from Jakarta to a jungled area on Borneo island. It’s new capital will be called Nusantara, meaning "archipelago" in Javanese.
The new Capital
- Kalimantan is a jungle-covered area on the east of Borneo island.
- The site of the new capital, some 2,000km (1,250 miles) northeast of Jakarta, will straddle the regencies of North Penjam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara in Kalimantan Province on Borneo, which are home to 900,000 people.
- It is situated in the centre of Indonesia, in one of the areas least prone to the natural disasters that regularly hit the vast archipelago of 17,000 islands.
- The new capital has a central function and is a symbol of the identity of the nation, as well as a new centre of economic gravity.
Reason behind the decision
- Jakarta has become crowded, polluted and is sinking at an alarming rate due to the over-extraction of groundwater.
- Home to more than 10 million people, it sits on swampy land on the large island of Java.
