JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s president has announced that the country’s capital will be moved from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta to East Kalimantan province.
President Joko Widodo told a news conference Monday the decision to choose the province on the Indonesian side of Borneo island, which is shared with Malaysia and Brunei, has gone through in-depth studies.
He said the most ideal site for the new capital will be between Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara districts.
Indonesia’s decades-long discussion about building a new capital on Borneo inched forward in April when Widodo approved a plan for it to move from Jakarta on Java island, the nation’s most populous.
Jakarta is a sprawling metropolis of 10 million people that swells to three times that number when counting those living in its greater metropolitan area.
