Indonesia's Minister of National Development and Planning Board Chief, Bambang Brodjonegoro, said President Joko Widodo favored a plan to relocate the capital from Jakarta to outside of Java Island, according to CNN Indonesia, but that the government has not yet formally decided an exact location.

According to Reuters, Brodjonegoro said on Monday that the administration was considering the eastern side of the archipelago as the destination for the new capital. However, such a move could take up to 10 years, he said,

Jakarta is home to more than 10 million people according to the United Nations, with an estimated 30 million in the greater metropolitan area.

It's also one of the fastest sinking cities in the world, according to the not-for-profit organization The World Economic Forum . The nation is prone to flooding and is sinking at an alarming rate due to over-extraction of groundwater.

Brodjonegoro estimated that government would need the equivalent of 23-33 billion US dollars to move the capital, build new infrastructure and relocate civil servants from Jakarta, CNN Indonesia reported. </s> Jakarta: Indonesian President Joko Widodo has announced that he will move the capital of south-east Asia's largest economy away from the crowded main island of Java, decommissioning Jakarta for the first time in the country's history as an independent nation.

"The president chose to relocate the capital city to outside of Java, an important decision," Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told a news conference after a cabinet meeting, adding that the administration had yet to pick a new location.

He said moving the capital should take between five and 10 years, citing examples such as Brazil, Malaysia and Kazakhstan.

Mr Brodjonegoro said the new capital should be in the geographical centre of the archipelago nation, should be in a place with a large availability of land that belonged to the government or state-owned enterprises, and was free from the threat of natural disasters, including the volcanos, tsunamis, land erosion and forest fires to which Indonesia is prone. </s> Jakarta: Indonesian President Joko Widodo has decided to move the capital of Southeast Asia's largest economy away from the crowded main island of Java, the planning minister has said.

"The president chose to relocate the capital city to outside of Java, an important decision," Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told a news conference after a cabinet meeting, adding that the administration had yet to pick a new location.

He said moving the capital from the coastal city of Jakarta, on the north coast of Java, could take up to 10 years, citing examples such as Brazil, Malaysia and Kazakhstan. </s> Indonesian President Joko Widodo has called for the country's capital to be moved from Jakarta to another city off the main island of Java. The country's planning minister says the exact location is yet to be decided and could take up to 10 years to implement. Palangka Raya on the island of Borneo is said to be the favourite to take over as capital, as it is larger and less at risk of being hit by natural disasters.

Indonesia is considering a plan to move its capital away from sprawling megalopolis Jakarta, officials said, but any jump to a new city could still be years away.

The idea of moving Indonesia’s seat of government from an urban conglomeration of nearly 30 million people with some of the world’s worst traffic jams has stretched on for decades.

Low-lying Jakarta is also prone to annual flooding and is one of the world’s fastest sinking cities due to excessive groundwater extraction.

On Monday, urban planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the long-stalled relocation plan won approval from President Joko Widodo who favoured moving the capital away from Indonesia’s most populous island, Java.

Jakarta would remain the country’s financial hub.

“(Widodo) decided on … the option to relocate the capital,” Brodjonegoro said after a cabinet meeting.

In a statement before the meeting, Widodo expressed support for the idea, but he did not give an alternate location or a timeline for any move.

“In the future, would Jakarta be able to carry the double burden of being both the centre of government and its business centre?” he asked in the statement.

“If we prepare well from the very beginning, this great (relocation) idea could be realised,” he added.

During his re-election campaign, Widodo pledged to spread economic growth more evenly in the nation of 260 million.

He won a second term this month, according to unofficial poll results.

Local media have reported that a possible new capital would be Palangkaraya city on the island of Borneo. </s> Indonesia President Joko Widodo gestures as he speaks during a press conference at the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. Indonesia’s president has announced to relocate the country’s capital from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta to East Kalimantan province. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s president says the country’s capital will move from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta to a site in sparsely populated East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, known for rainforests and orangutans.

President Joko Widodo said Monday intense studies over the past three years had resulted in the choice of the location on the eastern side of Borneo island.

The new capital city, which has not yet been named, will be in the middle of the vast archipelago nation and already has relatively complete infrastructure because it is near the cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda, Widodo said.

He said the burden has been become too heavy on Jakarta on Java island as the center of government, finance, business, trade and services as well as the location of the country’s largest airport and seaport.

Widodo said the decision was made not to move the capital elsewhere on Java because the country’s wealth and people are highly concentrated there and should be spread out.

Currently 54% of the country’s nearly 270 million people live on Java, the country’s most densely populated area.

“We couldn’t continue to allow the burden on Jakarta and Java island to increase in terms of population density,” Widodo said at a news conference in the presidential palace. “Economic disparities between Java and elsewhere would also increase.”

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Widodo said he wants to separate the center of government from the country’s business and economic center in Jakarta.

Jakarta is an archetypical Asian mega-city with 10 million people, or 30 million including those in its greater metropolitan area. It is prone to earthquakes and flooding and is rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled extraction of ground water. The ground water and rivers are highly contaminated. Congestion is estimated to cost the economy $6.5 billion a year.

Mineral-rich East Kalimantan was once almost completely covered by rainforests, but illegal logging has removed many of its original growth. It is home to only 3.5 million people and is surrounded by Kutai National Park, known for orangutans and other primates and mammals.

Widodo said the relocation of the capital to a 180,000-hectare (444,780-acre) site will take up a decade and cost as much as 466 trillion rupiah ($32.5 billion), of which 19% will come from the state budget and the rest will be funded by cooperation between the government and business entities and by direct investment by state-run companies and the private sector.

He said the studies determined that the best site is between two districts, North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara, an area that has minimal risk of disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, forest fires, volcanic eruptions or landslides in the seismically active nation.

Indonesia’s founding father and first president, Sukarno, once planned to relocate the capital to Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan province.

Infrastructure improvement has been Widodo’s signature policy and helped him win a second term in April elections.

Decades of discussions about building a new capital on Borneo island moved forward in April when Widodo approved a general relocation plan. He appealed for support for the move in an annual national address on the eve of Indonesia’s independence day on Aug. 16.

He said Monday that his government is still drafting a law on the new capital which will need to be approved by Parliament. </s> President Joko Widodo on Monday announced further details about Indonesia's plans to move its capital from overpopulated Jakarta to Borneo Island.

The new capital would be located in Borneo's East Kalimantan province between Samarinda City and the port city of Balikpapan.

"It is a strategic location at the center of Indonesia, close to a growing urban area," Widodo told a news conference.

Widodo said the relocation would cost $33 billion (€29.7 billion) and start in 2024.

The move is to be funded by the state, public-private partnerships and private investment.

The president earlier this month proposed moving the capital to East Kalimantan but officials had not mentioned an exact location.

Jakarta has a population of 10 million and three times that number including nearby areas. It is located on Java Island, a commercial center that accounts for 58% of Indonesia's gross domestic product and is home to about half of nation's 260 million population.

Jakarta is prone to floods and is sinking due to the overuse of groundwater. Java is also susceptible to volcanos and tsunamis.

Environmental groups have criticized plans to move the capital out of concern for Borneo's vast forests and endangered wildlife.

Widodo said he would soon submit a draft bill to parliament to approve the relocation.

DW sends out a selection of the day's news and features. Sign up here. </s> Indonesian president Joko Widodo has approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded Jakarta and move to a new capital.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo has approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded Jakarta and move to a new capital.

Indonesia set to move capital away from Jakarta

Planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said Mr Widodo decided at a special Cabinet meeting on Monday to move the capital outside of Indonesia’s most populous island, Java.

The site for a new capital has not been announced but Palangkaraya on the island of Borneo has often been rumoured as the favoured location.

Mr Brodjonegoro said a new capital would require an area of 30,000 to 40,000 hectares and have a population of up to 1.5 million.

Jakarta has a population of about 30 million in its greater metropolitan area. </s> Indonesia Plans To Move Its Capital Out Of Jakarta, A City That's Sinking

Enlarge this image toggle caption Dita Alangkara/AP Dita Alangkara/AP

Indonesia has announced plans to build a new capital city as its current capital, Jakarta, struggles with pollution, traffic gridlock — and the fact that the city is sinking.

After a Cabinet meeting on Monday, planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said President Joko Widodo has decided to move the capital out of Indonesia's main island, Java.

It's not clear exactly when this will happen, or where the new capital would be located. The idea has been out there for decades, though previous leaders have been unable to accomplish the ambitious plan.

Earlier this month, Widodo secured another term in office, according to independent polling organizations. His challenger also declared victory, and official results have not yet been announced.

"The idea to move the capital city appeared long ago. ... But it has never been decided or discussed in a planned and mature manner," Widodo said before the meeting, according to The Associated Press.

Jakarta faces massive challenges. As the BBC has reported, it's the fastest-sinking city in the world, with almost half of its area below sea level.

"If we look at our models, by 2050 about 95% of North Jakarta will be submerged," Heri Andreas, an expert in Jakarta's land subsidence at the Bandung Institute of Technology, told the broadcaster.

The president was reported to have considered three possible plans for Indonesia's capital. In the first scenario, according to The Jakarta Post, government offices would move to a special zone near the presidential palace to make it easier for officials to move between meetings.

In the second, the capital would be moved to an area in Java near the current one. Java sits on the western edge of Indonesia's archipelago of thousands of islands. It's the country's most populous island.

Brodjonegoro told reporters Monday that neither of these options would mitigate the crowding in Java, where more than 140 million people live, according to the Post. They ultimately decided on the third option — to locate the new capital outside of Java.

The new capital's location has yet to be announced; the planning minister said his government is looking for a location on the eastern side of Indonesia.

The area of Palangkaraya on the central island of Borneo is also reportedly in the running. Residents there are contemplating what this would mean for their small city.

"I hope the city will develop and the education will become as good as in Jakarta," a high school student told the BBC. "But all the land and forest that's empty space now will be used. Kalimantan [the Indonesian portion of Borneo] is the lungs of the world, and I am worried we will lose the forest we have left."

The planning minister acknowledged that it would take time to implement the idea."This is a big job, impossible to take just one year, it could take up to 10 years," Brodjonegoro said, according to the AP.

Jakarta's problems are largely man-made — the area's large population has extracted so much groundwater that it has impacted the ground levels, and many surface water resources are polluted.

The city's massive amount of traffic is also costly. According to the BBC, the planning minister has estimated traffic jams in Jakarta cost the economy some $6.8 billion annually.

Many other countries have, at some point, moved their capital cities. Nigeria moved its capital from Lagos to Abuja. Pakistan moved its capital from Karachi to Islamabad. Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia. And Egypt is in the process of building a new capital in the desert. </s> Indonesia's president has decided to move the capital of the world's fourth most populous country away from the crowded main island of Java, but has yet to finalise a new location, the planning minister said on Monday.

President Joko Widodo's decision comes less than two weeks after private pollsters said he had won an April 17 presidential election, although official results are not due until May 22. His challenger, Prabowo Subianto, has also claimed victory.

“The president chose to relocate the capital city to outside of Java, an important decision,” Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

Mr Brodjonegoro said the administration had yet to pick a new location, but was looking at the eastern side of the sprawling archipelago.

At the opening of his cabinet meeting, Mr Widodo stressed the need for new thinking about the future.

“We want to think in a visionary way for the progress of this country and moving the capital requires thorough and detailed preparation,” he said.

The current capital, Jakarta, is home to more than 10 million people, but around three times that many people live in the surrounding towns adding to the area's severe congestion.

Mr Brodjonegoro put the annual economic loss due to traffic congestion in Jakarta at 100 trillion rupiah (£5.5 billion).
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has decided to relocate the nation's capital from Jakarta, on the northwest coast of Java island. The new location and timing are not yet known. Jakarta, home to over 10 million people, is sinking at one of the fastest rates in the world; almost half of its area is below sea level.