Precis

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta has been described as unliveable, choked with traffic and smog.

It’s one of the worst capital cities in the world for air pollution and it's also sinking. By 2050 it’s estimated around a quarter of the city will be submerged.

In 2019, President Joko Widodo embarked on a radical plan to move the mega city. The site he chose was more than a thousand kilometres away, deep in the jungle of Borneo. 

This week on Foreign Correspondent, Indonesia correspondent Bill Birtles travels to the location of the new capital in East Kalimantan on Borneo Island.

In the middle of the jungle lies the construction site of a new city which promises to be clean, green and sustainable.

But the utopian vision comes with a high price tag – a staggering $US45 billion.

Critics say the project is a white elephant and a waste of the country's limited resources.

Completion of the project is now up to the new incoming president who says he’s supporting the expensive relocation ... for now. 

Episode teaser

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter:  Jakarta -- one of the world's great megacities, is at breaking point. Home to 30 million people, and sinking.

00:10

SUMO: Everyone is worried there will be flooding again if the seawall breaks.

00:21

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter:  A clogged and polluted capital.

00:29

ELISA:  The pollution is something that you can taste; that's how bad it is.

00:31

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter:  And a president determined to forge a bold solution before he leaves office.

00:36

JOKO WIDODO: So the burden of Java, the burden of Jakarta, is it's over capacity.

00:41

Super: Bill Birtles

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Now Indonesia is embarking on a radical plan to start afresh and build a new capital city, not near Jakarta, but more than a thousand kilometres away, deep in the jungles of Borneo. A grand plan – promising a Utopian forest city – that's clean, green, and sustainable.

00:48

NATASYA: It looks like beautiful and unbelievable, and also smart for a city.

01:12

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: But not everyone is on board.

01:19

YUSUF: This is a decision that has not been democratic from the beginning. We see this as an authoritarian decision.

01:22

ELISA:  This project is a white elephant that wastes limited resources.

01:35

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Ten thousand labourers, like these guys, are working day and night to get this mega project built.  But with the clock ticking down, can Indonesia really pull this off and have a functioning capital up and running before the year is out?

01:39

BAMBANG: The plan going into reality is something I dream of. Inshallah we call it, we will make it.

01:57

Music

02:03

Title: MOVING A MEGACITY

02:06

Train passes city traffic

02:13

City skyline. Super:
JAKARTA, INDONESIA

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Jakarta is one of the world's bustling cities.

02:22

Jakarta high rise, air pollution

Each year, new towers rise to the sky. And it's up high, where the first major problem of this metropolis becomes obvious – the constant thick haze. Jakarta is one of the world's worst capital cities for air pollution.

02:27

City traffic

Car exhaust fumes are a major factor, along with coal-fired power plants nearby.

02:48

Sukisno shows Bill water misting set-up on high-rise.

But there are some 'creative' methods to try to disperse it.

"Okay, water, first step, turn on the water…Into the bucket… Turn on the tap so the water goes through… Final step, plug it in… " 

02:58

Jakarta's government has ordered all tall buildings in the middle of the city to install water spray machines.  The mist is supposed to improve the air quality, at least around each building that has one. 

03:40

SUKISNO: We run this machine daily starting at 8am. We turn it on for two hours, then turn it off for two hours until the afternoon.

03:55

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Maintenance man Sukisno and his team made this machine out of parts that cost less than 300 dollars.

04:09

Can you see a difference do you think when you turn it on, when you look around the building.

SUKISNO:  We never check on that. (laugh) 

04:18

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: So this is more about complying with the regulations rather than actually making a concrete difference. 

04:27

SUKISNO: Yeah, so we comply with the government to provide the water, to reduce air pollution. That's all. 

04:35

High rise, hazy air

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Despite the water spray, pollution levels regularly choke the city. Most days, pollution levels in Jakarta hover between five to ten times the World Health Organization's recommended standard.

04:42

Elisa on high-rise balcony

ELISA: Yeah, I don't know where they get that idea from actually, that misting building. Again, I think it's typical Indonesia Government, they just only work on the symptoms but never really work on the source of the problem. 

04:59

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Elisa Sutanudjaja is a former architect and urban activist.

05:12

ELISA: The pollution is something that you can taste , that's how bad it is. Usually it's just something you see. But this is now in Jakarta, something you can taste as well.

05:16

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: She got so fed up with the dirty air, she successfully sued the national government to change their air quality standard.

05:28

ELISA: WHO air quality standard is 15, for example, but Indonesia standard is 65. 

05:38

Sun shines through pollution haze

Music

05:44

Bill and Elisa on balcony overlooking city

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Elisa is clear eyed on the city's problems, but doesn't think they justify moving the capital. 

05:51

ELISA: You still have to fix the problem. It doesn't mean you can run away from this problem. 

05:58

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Is that the feeling, that some people have, that the new capital is kind of giving up on Jakarta and running away. 

06:01

ELISA: Yeah. Probably the government don't really want to solve the problem. So just run away from it.

06:09

Drone shots over city

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: When it comes to problems, Jakarta has many. And on ground level, there's one issue everyone talks about every day.

06:17

Traffic congestion

Music

06:29

Bill on back of motorbike

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Traffic congestion like this costs the Indonesian economy an estimated 6 billion dollars a year.

06:38

Bill to camera

I'm on my way now to North Jakarta, which is about 20 kilometres away, but in a car in this traffic it could take hours. I'm just hoping on one of these bikes it will be a little bit quicker.

06:45

Bill visits Sumo

It's a slow crawl to the northern edge of Jakarta, but I've arrived.

07:07

Hey Sumo, namanya Bill, nice to meet you, very nice to meet you. This is where you work?

07:13

I've come to meet motorbike repairman Sumo. He fixes scooters out the front of this shop and has lived here for his entire life.

07:22

Sumo and Bill walk to house, down alleyway

Can we go there?

SUMO: Yes we can. I'll take you to my house.

07:31

Inside this alley, my house is there.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: In here?

SUMO : Yes, we go inside.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Bit tight down there?

SUMO: Yes, the alley is very tight.

07:39

Music

07:46

Flooded alleyways

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: It's an area battling one of the biggest problems facing this megacity. Jakarta is sinking. By 2050 it's estimated around a quarter of the city will be submerged.

07:51

Into Sumo's home

Sumo lives in a humid room hidden by the alleyways, with his wife and 7-month-old son.

08:09

Sumo interview

SUMO: Living here, if you say it's hard, it's hard. It's not only me, everyone has a hard life living here. For the family the place is cramped. If there's no electricity, there's no water.

08:20

Sumo and wife feed baby

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Less than half of Jakarta's population has access to piped water, with many residents forced to buy water in. Others pump ground water

08:40

Flooded alleyways

from wells causing the ground to sink – in some places up to ten centimetres a year. Along with rising sea levels, Jakarta has been hit by two devastating tidal floods in the past decade.

08:50

Archival. Tidal flood footage

09:09

SUMO:  When it flooded it caused so much suffering for everyone. I feel sorry for the people, their houses were submerged because the water was so high.  It was a mess inside the house and outside the house. And everyone evacuated to the second floor, because the flood was extreme. Really extreme!

09:15

Sumo and Bill at seawall

09:50

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: To prevent future flooding government authorities have built a giant seawall… Let's have a look yeah?

SUMO: Yeah.

05:55

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: But Sumo says he's not confident it will be enough to stop the water the next time.

10:03

SUMO: Yeah, this is the seawall, it was built a few years ago. It was repaired but it got hit by the waves again, causing damage, including holes.

10:10

Drone shot over seawall

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: No one knows when the next big floods will come. Sumo just tries to put it all out of his mind. 

10:22

Sumo with racing pigeons

SUMO:  I feel like I can't leave here because it's my birthplace.

10:38

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: He is one of the millions of people who won't be moving to the new capital city.

10:48

Sumo sits on seawall

SUMO:  What's important is Jakarta is not forgotten, and all the people are not forgotten.

10:56

Archival. Swearing in of President Widodo

PRESIDENT JOKO WIDODO: "I will fulfil the obligations of President of Indonesia."

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: President Joko Widodo isn't the first Indonesian leader to propose moving the capital.

11:12

Archival. Sukarno, Suharto

The nation's post-colonial leader Sukarno had the idea originally, followed by others, including military dictator Suharto. 

11:24

Widodo addresses parliament

But in 2019 President Joko Widodo resurrected the audacious plan, to ease the burden on Jakarta and boost the national economy beyond Java.

11:24

PRESIDENT JOKO WIDODO: "This is for the vision of advanced Indonesia. Indonesia that lives forever."

11:46

Map of Indonesia showing site of new capital

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: The new capital would be built more than a thousand kilometres away in East Kalimantan on Borneo Island.

11:53

Promotional video for new capital

And this is the grand vision. Called Ibu Kota Nusantara, or IKN for short, the Government promises the new city will be smart, convenient and powered by renewable energy. A so called 'forest city' where, by 2045, nearly 2 million people will live.

12:04

Bill flies to Balikpapan

With the deadline for the first goal of the project just 6 months away, and with Joko Widodo's term as President ending shortly, I want to find out how the new capital is progressing. So I'm leaving the smog of Jakarta. It's currently not an easy journey to reach the location of the new capital. It's a two hour flight to the port city of Balikpapan in East Kalimantan,

12:31

Driving through jungle to city site

and then another two hours' drive through the jungle, where it's not the traffic holding us up. wing down the man in charge.

13:05

Bill to camera in car

This is actually the first time I've been to this part of Indonesia, and it's quite amazing. The jungle is just so thick and lush. Our car even got stopped by a group of monkeys. It just feels so, so different to Jakarta.

13:15

Construction site

Soon the jungle gives way to the dusty rattle of trucks. A frenzy of activity, as ten thousand workers toil under the tropical sun to carve a city out of the hills.

13:34

Presidential visit to construction sites for ground-breaking

The work made all the more urgent by the imminent arrival of the president himself for a three day visit.

13:52

He's come for a whirlwind series of ground-breaking ceremonies: a new mall, an international school.

14:08

Bill to camera on roadside/Presidential cavalcade passes

The President has gone from one ground-breaking to another ground-breaking ceremony. He's keeping a hectic schedule because he wants to stress his project is on track. His entourage brings Jakarta-style congestion to the construction site. But there's no slowing down the man in charge.

14:27

President speech re bank at ground breaking ceremony

PRESIDENT WIDODO: "So this central bank being built in IKN can increase the faith of the people, the  business sector and investors."

15:01

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: It's a message of much needed assurance; this event is all about shoring up confidence. With a hefty 45 billion dollar price tag, the government desperately needs private investors, especially from overseas. And despite a law forcing future governments to continue building, the upcoming change of leader is creating uncertainty. So far, no foreign investors have signed up.

15:17

PRESIDENT JOKO WIDODO: "This ground breaking proves the earnestness of our commitment, and that we're ready to build IKN into a world class capital."

15:50

Bambang Susantono at ground breaking events

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: It might be the President's pet project, but it's his right hand man who has the massive job of making it happen. Bambang Susantono has been put in charge of the New Capital Authority, the powerful body that answers directly to the President.

16:06

At each ground-breaking event, I try to get a word with him, but he's a hard man to catch. Instead, 'the face' of the New Capital is my tour guide.

16:21

Natasya wearing pageant sash

Music

16:39

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: After winning Miss East Kalimantan, Natasya Priyanka is now helping sell Indonesia's new capital to the next generation.

16:46

Natasya with Bill in car

Tell me about Miss East Kalimantan.

NATASYA:  This is Puteri Indonesia. It's kind of like they are looking for a woman leader, the woman who's going to change and also be the voice of hope for other women, and also for the people in East Kalimantan.

16:55

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Natasya is a passionate advocate of the Nusantara dream, but it wasn't always that way.

17:10

So when you first heard about it, you were a bit worried, were you?

NATASYA:  Yeah, I bit worried. When someone asked me about what do you think about any capital city they're going to move to Kalimantan, I was like, oh my God, no. No way, because it's going to be destroy our forest, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But when I joined this and I learned more, I learned a lot about this new capital city. I was just like, no, it's not destroying, but we rebuild.

17:18

Natasya poses for tourists

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Wherever she goes, tourists on a nationalistic pilgrimage to Indonesia's new capital want her photo. A team follows her around, but as the rain sets in, she has plenty more to show me.

17:46

Natasya with Bill in car touring construction

NATASYA:  At first, I was really amazed about how big it is and the construction is really fast. The grow is really fast. Last week you didn't see anything here, and then next month you see something.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Yeah. The scale of it is amazing.

18:08

NATASYA:  Yeah. The new capital city, you're going to see, this is not too good to be true, but it's going to be true and it's going to be fantastic.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: When they say too good to be true, what do they mean?

18:23

NATASYA:  I guess maybe they think this is so, it is the vision that a long fishing journey and we have to done this just for until 2045. Maybe they're not ready yet.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: They feel like it might be too hard to pull this off?

NATASYA:  Yeah, yeah.

18:33

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter:  What do you think?

NATASYA:  It's not hard when we come together hand in hand and support this new capacity with the things that we can do. Maybe the small things can make a bigger things.

18:50

Muddy construction site. Car skidding

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: She's taking me to see the core government area where civil servants are supposed to work later this year.  But, we're struggling to get there. And have to change to a different car…

19:02

Bill helps Natasya out of car over mud to different car

I'm worried about your shoes.

NATASYA:  It's okay.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Okay, hopefully this four wheel drive can get us through this place safely.

NATASYA:  Yeah, be careful.

19:22

Four wheel drive ploughs on through mud

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: This is wild…With a four-wheel drive, we push on to the vantage point to finally get a glimpse of what this new capital will look like…

19:31

Bill and Natasya on viewing platform looking at construction of Presidential Palace

Wow, Look at this.

NATASYA:  Yes. The new capital city of Indonesia.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: This is where it's all happening.

NATASYA:  Yes, that is.

19:43

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: What are we looking at here?

NATASYA:  Over there is the presidential palace.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: The presidential palace, the most important building, I hear.

19:52

NATASYA:  Yes, the very important one, for Independence Day in August.

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: In August, just a few months.

NATASYA:  Mmm, the pressure is on.

20:01

Drone shot of city site 

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Not everyone is happy to see this new city emerge.

20:14

Moon in sky. Dahlia home. Dahlia preparing food

It's 3am and just outside the boundary of the city, Yati Dahlia, a member of the indigenous Balik community is at the beginning of a long day.

20:23

DAHLIA: Because my land is within the main development area of the new capital city, I had to move. 

20:38

Dahlia packs food into car, drives to stall in rest area

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Before work on the new capital began, Dahlia ran a profitable business selling food from her family home. She's now trying to make a living by selling food to workers and tourists at this newly built rest area owned by the capital authority.

20:46

Dahlia with Bill

DAHLIA:  In the old business, I always had many customers. But as you can see in here, business is very slow.

21:06

Bill and Dahlia to old house. Trucks passing

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: It's only a few minutes' drive to Dahlia's old house… "Right next to the highway, so many trucks, banyak trucks". 

21:22

DAHLIA: I feel really heartbroken. Looking at this house that I had to leave. That's why I never return to see my house, because there's a lot of sadness.

21:33

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Dahlia has been offered some compensation for her property, but had to move her family before receiving it.

21:55

DAHLIA:  It's not even enough money to build a new house, let alone a business.

22:08

Dahlia interview

Their compensation is not enough for anything.  To open the land with the excuse of building a new capital city, the government just took it away for a very cheap price.

22:13

View from mountain to capital site

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: As the sun sets over the new capital site, we finally catch Bambang Susantono for a chat…

22:42

Bill greets Bambang Susantono

Thank you for your time, you’re a busy man.

BAMBANG SUSANTONO: That's ok, it's my job, part of the job.

22:49

Bambang interview. Super:
Bambang Susantono
CHAIRMAN, NUSANTARA CAPITAL AUTHORITY

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Pak Bambang, it's your job to make this new capital happen. You must have a lot of pressure. Do you feel it?

22:54

BAMBANG SUSANTONO: Yes, I guess the pressure is there because it's going to be a challenge for anybody who is taking this job, because we're going to develop not only a city, but a capital city and not only a capital city, but a sustainable forest city with all the principle of green, smart, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.

23:02

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Is there a risk that future governments in Indonesia might flip on this project and cancel it?

23:24

BAMBANG SUSANTONO: It'll be very difficult to change the course. Of course for that. I'm not saying that it's impossible, but it's very difficult for them.

23:32

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: But are you worried that costs are going to blow out and that the Indonesian taxpayer will end up footing much of the bill?

23:42

BAMBANG SUSANTONO:  I hope that at the end of the day we are going to find some creative financing. We need it from the state budget because we needed to jump up and also to create the confidence of the private sector and to create some comfort for the investors to come, because they must see that the government itself is committed, right?

23:49

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: You don't lose any sleep over meeting these deadlines?

BAMBANG SUSANTONO:  Of course I lose some sleep sometimes. I dream always about my work here, but that's part of the life and that's part of my job.

24:10

Bambang looks over new capital site

Music

24:22

Jakarta smog, traffic GVs

24:32

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Back in Jakarta and back to the smog and traffic.

24:35

Bill walks with Yusuf

Economist Yusuf Wibisono has been watching the rollout of the new capital closely. He says Indonesia can't afford the project and it won't attract investors.

24:41

Yusuf Wibisono interview

YUSUF: There's a big chance the next government will re-evaluate the development of IKN, the new capital city. Even though right now the President has a political promise for the continued development of IKN, I believe at some point, they'll reach a momentum and a political courage to re-evaluate IKN. 

24:52

New capital construction works

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: He also says it's rushed and undemocratic.

YUSUF:  This is a decision that has not been democratic from the beginning. The fact that the capital city is moved without considering the public's aspiration, without listening to expert feedback, without looking at or comparing at other countries' experiences adequately. This project is being rushed.

25:25

Bill with Yusuf, interview

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Is it difficult to speak out against it?

25:58

YUSUF:  To be honest, yeah. But on the other hand, we have a moral obligation.  In today's declining democratic environment, it becomes difficult to criticise the government openly.

26:01

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Will this project end up being a white elephant?

26:22

YUSUF:  I have a projection that IKN will possibly become a stalled project. A project that stops halfway. We can even probably call it the ghost city.

26:26

Drone shots. Carless Jakarta road

Music

26:44

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: It's Sunday morning in the city centre. What's normally a congested landmark, now transformed. 

26:52

Car Free Sunday run

Music

27:01

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: In a city with little green space, this window for a few hours is a chance for people to get out and about.

27:06

HARRIS: On normal days we see traffic jams, because everyone is busy working. Going to and from work, there's bound to be traffic jams with motorbikes, cars, and everything.

27:13

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Car Free Sunday is a regular fixture for thousands of people here.

27:28

Harris and Arif running

And a weekly ritual for friends Harris Mauluddin and Arif Ambar Prastiyo. But Harris and Arif won't be doing these weekly runs for too much longer.

27:32

Bill with Harris and Arif, interview

As civil servants, they're in line to be moved soon to Nusantara.

27:44

HARRIS: I am ready.  We have a contract, we must be ready to be placed anywhere.

27:49

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Arif, you'll be one of the first people to move to the capital. How do you feel?

27:57

ARIF: When I was informed that I was the first to be moved, I was of course nervous. Anxious, what about my family? What about my children's education? What sort of health facilities would there be?  Because we have many comforts here in Jakarta.  Jakarta represents what a city in Indonesia should be.

28:02

People running

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: But both agree Jakarta is over-burdened, and that a new capital will help ease some of the city's pressures.

28:21

HARRIS:   It will improve things a little. The total number of civil servants in the capital is around 8 to 12 per cent of Jakarta's population.  

28:32

Jakarta recreation GVs

Music

28:45

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: Whether Indonesia will complete its grand design is yet to be seen. 2045 is a long time away.

28:57

Election posters

A change of government is imminent. Nothing's guaranteed. 

29:09

Jakarta life, GVs

Music

29:14

Harris and Arif running

BILL BIRTLES, Reporter: As far as Harris is concerned, this historic move to a new faraway capital is happening, but there's no doubt which city will remain home.

29:22

HARRIS: In the future when I have to move, I just have to enjoy it. Carrying out my duty. I will follow the rules, and stay there until the end of my appointment.  After that I'll go back to Jakarta and reunite with my family. Spend my retirement days in Jakarta.

29:33

Credits [see below]

Music 

29:54

Outpoint