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Indonesia is moving its capital city away from Jakarta, according to the country's
planning minister.
Bambang Brodjonegoro said President Joko Widodo had chosen to relocate the capital in "an
important decision".
The new location is not yet known. However state media reports one of the front runners is
Palangkaraya, on the island of Borneo.
Jakarta, home to over 10 million people, is sinking at one of the fastest rates in the world.
The announcement comes after Mr Widodo declared victory in the country's general election
earlier this month, though official results will not be announced until May 22.
In 2016, a survey found that the mega-city had the world's worst traffic congestion.
Government ministers have to be escorted by police convoys to get to meetings on time.
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29/04/2019 Indonesia's planning minister announces capital city move - BBC News
The planning minister says snarl-ups in Jakarta costs the economy 100 trillion rupiah ($6.8bn,
£5.4bn) a year.
There has also been a huge programme to decentralise government for the last two decades
in a bid to give greater political power and financial resources to municipalities.
Researchers say that large parts of the megacity could be entirely submerged by 2050.
North Jakarta sunk 2.5m (eight feet) in 10 years and is continuing to sink an average of 1-
15cm a year.
Half of Jakarta is below sea level. One of the main causes of this is the extraction of
groundwater which is used as drinking water and for bathing.
One involved making a special zone for government offices inside the current capital; another
was to move it to just outside Jakarta and the third, the one the president preferred, was to
build a brand new capital on another island.
It is geographically close to the centre of the archipelago and Indonesia's founding father
Sukarno proposed to make it the capital.
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29/04/2019 Indonesia's planning minister announces capital city move - BBC News
In Palangkaraya there is a mixed reaction to the idea of their sleepy city becoming the
nation's capital.
One high school student told the BBC: "I hope the city will develop and the education will
become as good as in Jakarta. But all the land and forest that's empty space now will be
used. Kalimantan is the lungs of the world, and I am worried, we will lose the forest we have
left."
Mr Brodjonegoro said that the process could take 10 years. He told reporters after the
meeting that if other countries could achieve it, so could Indonesia.
"Brazil moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia near the Amazon, and look at Canberra it's built
between Sydney and Melbourne, and Kazakhstan moved their capital to closer to the centre
of the country and also Myanmar moved to Naypyidaw," he said.
The announcement comes after Mr Widodo vowed to spread economic development more
evenly around the country.
Indonesians are sceptical about their capital ever moving. They have heard this before and
none of Indonesia's six presidents have been able to pull it off.
But President Joko Widodo has achieved ambitious infrastructure building in his five years in
office, so he may well be the man that finally does it.
Indonesians have never elected a non-Javanese president and most of Indonesia's wealth is
concentrated in Jakarta.
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29/04/2019 Indonesia's planning minister announces capital city move - BBC News
Indonesians living outside Java, particularly in the east, have long complained about being
forgotten and neglected by the country's leaders sitting in the sprawling capital.
Moving the capital out of Java would send a powerful political message that this is changing, if
it happens.
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