DESPERATE plans are in place to move an entire sinking city 1,200 miles away to a huge island full of chilling jungle tribes.
Over 1.9million residents in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, could be forced to relocate in a very ambitious $30billion plan with the first people set to move-in to the new city by the end of October 2024.
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The island will be named Nusantara and could cover an impressive 1,000 square miles.
Despite this big number, only 216 square miles have actually been set aside for the project with the remaining land sat reserved for when they need an expansion.
Jakarta has an ever growing population of 11million and chilling predictions say by 2050, around 95 per cent of North Jakarta will be submerged underwater.
This has led to the Indonesian government planning to create a utopian style design aimed at creating an environmentally friendly “smart” city.
At least 21 indigenous groups live in the jungle area being proposed as the new Jakarta.
Indonesia’s parliament earmarked plans to relocate the city to Borneo in the East Kalimantan province near to Brunei.
Plans have been kept under wraps for some time but government offices and a 150-metre tall presidential palace have been confirmed on CGI images released.
Fascinating pictures now also show the city conversion being well underway.
Roads and buildings are being erected at impressive speeds as the once towering trees have been chopped down to make some room.
It is thought that 200,000 workers are at the construction site.
President Joko Widodo said back in 2022: “The construction of the new capital city is not merely a physical move of government offices.
“The main goal is to build a smart new city, a new city that is competitive at the global level, to build a new locomotive for the transformation toward an Indonesia based on innovation and technology based on a green economy.”
In his latest speech on Nusantara he said there will be “zero emissions” in the new city that will be “a magnet for global talent and a centre of innovation”.
Nusantara – which means archipelago – will be powered by a 50-megawatt solar plant with plans, say reports.
Only electric vehicles and bikes are expected to be allowed in the city by 2030.
The transition was set to begin in 2020 with the early stages of construction but plans were hampered by the coronavirus pandemic .
The moving-in process will take place across several mini stages with hopes of it being all be sorted by 2045.
The first stage starts at the end of 2024 when the first inhabitants will officially be re-homed.
To begin with 6,000 government workers will be relocated as the others slowly follow suit.
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Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa told parliament: “The new capital has a central function and is a symbol of the identity of the nation, as well as a new centre of economic gravity.”
It is still uncertain where the money is going to come from to pay for the huge move.
The Indonesian government has only committed 20 per cent of the funding so far and are pleading for other finance sources to help.
‘STRATEGIC POSITION’
The mega city of Jakarta has long suffered from a range of issues from congestion, floods and severe air pollution.
Plans to move the city have actually been proposed for years but none have made it as far as Nusantara.
The new city is set to strengthen supply chains and place Indonesia “in a more strategic position in world trade routes, investment flows, and technological innovation,” the government announced.
The plan has been slammed by the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), in the area who say it is unfair to remove the people already living on the East Kalimantan province.
Muhammad Arman, AMAM’s Policy, Law and Human Rights Advocacy Director, told AFP: “The project will trigger problems such as confiscation of customary lands and criminalisation of indigenous people when they try to defend their rights.
“They will also lose their traditional jobs such as farming.”
It has also been shunned for the potential ecological damage that could occur from replacing jungle area with a built-up civilisation.
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