Why Indonesia is building Nusantara
Jakarta is overcrowded, floods, and is sinking, so in 2019 Indonesia decided to build a new capital from scratch in the forests of Borneo. The core is nearly built, but the move keeps slipping: the government now aims to make it the political capital by 2028.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 26 September 2026Suggest a correction
- JakartaCapital today
- NusantaraPlanned political capital, from 2028
Why leave Jakarta
Indonesian officials talked for decades about moving the capital. Jakarta is severely overcrowded and prone to flooding because it lies below sea level and its environment keeps degrading.[1] NPR describes it as the world’s largest city, polluted, overcrowded and sinking.[3]
In 2019 President Joko Widodo announced a plan to build a new capital and move the government there.[1] The site, about 2,500 km² on Borneo, was chosen partly because it is inland in an area with few earthquakes and volcanoes, and partly to lessen the gap between Java, the most populous island, and the rest of the country.[1]
Building it
A law in 2022 made building the capital a legal requirement, and construction began that year.[1] Much of the site is peat bog and swamp under dense rainforest, and critics worry about the forest and endangered orangutans; supporters point to planned wildlife corridors.[1] Local environmental groups say the work has already destroyed mangroves around Balikpapan Bay.[3]
On 17 August 2024 Indonesia held its Independence Day ceremony at Nusantara for the first time. Because lodging and food were limited, the guest list was cut from 8,000 to 1,300.[2]
Slower under Prabowo
Prabowo Subianto, Widodo’s ally, became president in October 2024.[1] State funding for 2026 was cut to half of the previous year’s, and Prabowo made his first visit to the site as president in January 2026.[3] In 2025 he signed a regulation calling Nusantara the “political capital” from 2028, rather than the national capital.[3]
By early 2026 the core government district was nearly complete, with about 10,000 residents, roughly a thousand of them civil servants. The head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority, Basuki Hadimuljono, says the president plans to move there in 2028, once the legislative and judicial buildings are finished.[3]
Timeline
2019
Plan announced
Joko Widodo announces a new capital on Borneo.[1]
2022
Law and groundbreaking
A law requires the new capital, and construction starts.[1]
202417 August 2024
First Independence Day
A scaled-back ceremony is held at Nusantara.[2]
2025
“Political capital”
Prabowo’s regulation names Nusantara the political capital from 2028.[3]
2028
Target
The planned year for the president to move there.[3]
More capitals
- Why Australia built Canberra
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- Why Brazil built BrasĂlia
- Why Burundi moved its capital to Gitega
- Why Canada’s capital is Ottawa
- Why Kazakhstan moved its capital to Astana
- Why South Africa has three capitals
- Why the Netherlands is governed from The Hague
- Why the United States built Washington
Sources
- [1]Nusantara · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [2]Indonesia holds curtailed Independence Day event in troubled new capital · Rappler (Reuters) · 17 August 2024
- [3]Indonesia’s capital of the future faces doubts in the present · NPR · 16 April 2026
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.