President Joko Widodo will reportedly move the capital of Indonesia from Java to an as yet undecided new location.
Widodo said the idea to move the capital city “appeared long ago”, but it had never been decided or discussed “in a planned and mature manner”, according to ABC News.
Indonesia’s Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegor said the administration had yet to pick a new location, but was looking at the eastern side of the Indonesian archipelago.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Indonesia is the fourth most heavily populated country in the world – with a population of more than 260 million people.
Statistics gathered by Indonesia’s Central Bureau in 2016 state that the current capital, Jakarta, is home to a population of nearly 10 million people.
Jakarta reportedly struggles with pollution and traffic gridlock. The city is also one of the fastest sinking cities in the world, with a report published by the BBC last year stating that parts of the city could be submerged by 2050.
“The potential for Jakarta to be submerged isn’t a laughing matter,” said Heri Andreas, who has studied Jakarta’s land subsidence for the past 20 years at the Bandung Institute of Technology.
“If we look at our models, by 2050 about 95 per cent of North Jakarta will be submerged.”
