(Nusantara) It was supposed to represent the emblematic legacy of Joko Widodo’s ten years of presidency. But the future Indonesian capital, Nusantara, built in the Borneo jungle, is still under construction a few weeks before its scheduled opening.
“Everything is on track,” said Mr Widodo, who visited the site earlier this week, putting the visible delays into perspective: “This is a 10, 15 or 20 year job. Not just one, two or three years.”
With the exception of the wing-shaped presidential palace, inspired by the mythical Garuda bird, the national emblem, Nusantara, which an AFP team was able to visit recently, features unfinished buildings and bumpy roads, amid clouds of dust kicked up by trucks and excavators.
Nusantara is due to be inaugurated on August 17, Indonesia’s independence day, but construction delays, funding problems and officials’ reluctance to move in have cast doubt on whether it will actually become the new capital.
The decree officially transferring the status of capital from Jakarta to Nusantara has still not been issued and could only be issued after Prabowo Subianto, winner of the presidential election in February, comes to power in October.
A metropolis of 12 million people, Jakarta is overwhelmed by traffic and pollution and is threatened by rising waters.
This is why Joko Widodo, nicknamed Jokowi, has resurrected a long-abandoned project to relocate the capital. The aim: to rebalance the development of the vast archipelago of 17,500 islands, which until now had been largely concentrated on the large island of Java.
The choice fell on the east coast of the island of Borneo, 1,200 km northeast of Jakarta and a 2-hour flight. According to the initial plan, which envisages construction in five stages by 2045, the first phase was to be operational this summer.
“No crisis”
“We are on the right track. There is no crisis, as you can see,” Danis Sumadilaga, Nusantara’s infrastructure manager, told AFP on site, assuring that 80% of phase 1 has been completed.
“But… this is the first step in long-term development. This is not for today. This is for our next generation,” he added.
A very different story comes from another official close to the project, who, on condition of anonymity, confides that the level of completion of the first phase is closer to 20%.
In the city, a legion of workers are toiling around still empty towers, driven to meet the delivery date of August 17.
“We are indeed under pressure to meet our Independence Day target,” acknowledged Jamaluddin, 47, a concrete plant manager who, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name.
“The weather conditions have been extreme,” added Nisya Khairunnisa, a 37-year-old worker, after incessant rain lashed the site in recent weeks.
Due to the delay, the head of the city administration and his deputy resigned in June.
Added to this is the difficulty of attracting crucial foreign investment. Jakarta will finance 20% of the new city, but needs 100 trillion rupiah (C$8.5 billion) of private investment by the end of 2024.
By the end of June, only 51.3 trillion rupees ($4.3 billion) had been collected, from domestic donors.
Foreign companies are reluctant to commit to a city located in one of the world’s largest rainforests, home to orangutans and long-nosed monkeys, experts say.
“They don’t want to invest in a project that is detrimental to biodiversity,” says Aida Greenbury, an Indonesian sustainable development specialist.
Nicky Fahrizal of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta said: “It’s mission impossible. The state’s finances don’t allow for building a megastructure in just one or two years.”
Reluctant to move
The progress of the project has not prompted some 10,000 civil servants to move to Nusantara from next September.
“It is clear that the facilities are not adequate,” said a civil servant in his thirties, who, like others, agreed to speak to AFP on condition of anonymity. “We are told that it will become a real city in 2045. But we have to move there by 2024. What will our life be like then?”
Even the promise of special bonuses and covered moving expenses does not change their minds.
“I’m still very reluctant to move,” says another 32-year-old civil servant.
But the government is banking on the loyalty and sacrifices of its agents: “Those who come will be the pioneers,” emphasizes Sofian Sibarani, the city’s architect.