Top Indonesian officials resign from $32 billion new capital city project

Jakarta — The head and deputy head of the body overseeing Indonesia’s planned new capital have unexpectedly resigned, raising questions about the $32 billion project.

With Jakarta, the current capital of 10 million, overcrowded and plagued by massive traffic jams as well as chronic flooding and sinking land, Indonesia is building a new capital, called Nusantara, in the jungles of East Kalimantan on Borneo – an island shared with Malaysia.

“The President has appointed the public works and housing minister and deputy agrarian minister as the acting head and deputy head,” State Secretariat Minister Pratikno said on Monday.

He said the appointments would speed up construction and the resignations had long been discussed.

In his official Instagram account, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on Monday ensured the public that the project’s development would continue.

“The development of new capital will be continued in line with the shared vision that has been established,” he said.

Bambang Susantono, a former official at the Asian Development Bank who was heading the project and his deputy Dhony Rahajoe, an architect and former real estate developer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The government has been racing to build infrastructure required for the relocation of the first batch of 12,000 civil servants this September. But the plan has been twice delayed and the resignations come amid a lack of private funding for President Widodo’s signature project.

An aerial view shows the Jakarta skyline with poor air quality levels on August 11, 2023.

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“These resignations will make people question