Deep in the forests of Indonesia’s Borneo island, workers are building Nusantara — a planned, tech-forward capital meant to run on renewable energy and modern infrastructure. The government’s 2019 announcement to relocate the capital from Jakarta responded to the current capital’s severe overcrowding, pollution and chronic sinking. Construction began in 2022 on a site about two hours from Balikpapan.
The government district is taking shape: a large green park framed by white office buildings with plants cascading from balconies, a bank building likened to a spaceship, and a striking, 250-foot-tall metal Garuda statue whose 500-foot wingspan overshadows the presidential palace. But despite these showpieces, critics say progress on the more-than-$30 billion project has been slower than expected, held back by logistics, funding shortfalls and political uncertainty tied to a presidential election.
Today the broader metro area around Nusantara includes roughly 150,000 people, a mix of construction workers and residents of long-established villages. The new city core houses about 10,000 people, including roughly 1,000 civil servants. The original ambition — moving 1.2 million people by 2029 — now looks far out of reach. Officials still plan to move an additional 4,100 civil servants this year, and the Nusantara Capital City Authority says the president intends to relocate to the site in 2028 once key legislative and judicial buildings are finished.
Political shifts have complicated momentum. Nusantara was a marquee project of former President Joko Widodo. After Prabowo Subianto took office in October 2024, some observers wondered whether the project would retain top priority. State funding was cut roughly in half for 2026 versus the previous year, and Prabowo’s first visit to the site did not occur until January 2026. A presidential regulation redefined Nusantara as the country’s ‘‘political capital’’ by 2028 rather than the earlier term ‘‘national capital,’’ a change that confused lawmakers and analysts and raised questions about the future emphasis on the city. Authorities insist the project will continue.
Beyond finances and timelines, practical and social gaps remain. Essential infrastructure for a functioning capital — schools, housing for married civil servants, shopping and entertainment facilities — is still largely absent. Even if government offices move, making the city livable for families and the wider population will require far more development.
Environmental and Indigenous concerns have animated local opposition. Environmental groups, including WALHI, say construction has already driven mangrove deforestation around Balikpapan Bay, threatening ecosystems and wildlife such as proboscis monkeys and the endangered owa Kalimantan. A newly built dam and a water treatment plant supply filtered drinking water to much of Nusantara, but the plant was placed on the edge of Sepaku Lama village, home to Indigenous Balik people for generations. Parts of the flood-mitigation infrastructure — a concrete wall along the Sepaku River — have cut off villagers’ traditional access to river water for bathing and laundry.
Although the city provides free treated water, households are responsible for installing pipes; many villagers instead collect rainwater or buy delivered water tanks. The water treatment compound now surrounds Batu Badok, a rhino-shaped rock in the river that is a sacred Balik site, effectively cutting it off from the community.
Residents like 51-year-old Syamsiah and her husband Pandi, who farm cassava, bananas and other crops, face an uncertain future. Officials have told surrounding villages their land will eventually be absorbed by the capital and that residents will have to sell. The couple say compensation for plants or a house cannot replace their memories and family history buried in the village cemetery, and they have nowhere else to go. Pandi questions the rationale for building a new capital when one already exists: ‘‘Why not leave us here peacefully?’’
Planners argue Nusantara will ease Jakarta’s enormous pressures: Jakarta’s metropolitan area has more than 40 million people and widespread environmental and infrastructure problems. Yet Nusantara’s long-term population projections are modest by comparison — perhaps around 2 million by 2045.
For now, Nusantara is both a bold promise and a test: an ambitious attempt to build a modern, greener capital from scratch, and a project that must still resolve funding, political will, social justice and environmental stewardship before it can fully become the city its backers envision.