Indonesia’s president says the country’s capital will move from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta to a site in sparsely populated East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, known for rainforests and orangutans.
President Joko Widodo said on Aug. 26 intense studies over the past three years had resulted in the choice of the location on the eastern side of Borneo island. The new capital city, which has not yet been named, will be in the middle of the vast archipelago nation and already has relatively complete infrastructure because it is near the cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda, Widodo said.
He said the burden has been become too heavy on Jakarta on Java island as the center of government, finance, business, trade and services as well as the location of the country’s largest airport and seaport.
Photo: Taipei Times
照片：台北時報美編組
Widodo said the decision was made not to move the capital elsewhere on Java because the country’s wealth and people are highly concentrated there and should be spread out.
Currently 54 percent of the country’s 270 million people live on Java, Indonesia’s most densely populated area.
“We couldn’t continue to allow the burden on Jakarta and Java island to increase in terms of population density,” Widodo said at a news conference in the presidential palace. “Economic disparities between Java and elsewhere would also increase.” In an interview last month, Widodo said he wants to separate the center of government from the country’s business and economic center in Jakarta.
Photo: EPA
照片：歐新社
Jakarta is an archetypical Asian mega-city with 10 million people, or 30 million including those in its greater metropolitan area. It is prone to earthquakes and flooding and is rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled extraction of ground water. The ground water and rivers are highly contaminated. Congestion is estimated to cost the economy US$6.5 billion a year.
Mineral-rich East Kalimantan was once almost completely covered by rainforests, but illegal logging has removed many of its original growth. It is home to only 3.5 million people and is surrounded by Kutai National Park, known for orangutans and other primates and mammals.
Widodo said the relocation of the capital to a 180,000-hectare site will take up a decade and cost as much as 466 trillion rupiah (US$32.5 billion), of which 19 percent will come from the state budget and the rest funded by cooperation between the government and business entities and by direct investment by state-run companies and the private sector.
Photo: EPA
照片：歐新社
He said the studies determined that the best site is between two districts, North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara, an area that has minimal risk of disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, forest fires, volcanic eruptions or landslides in the seismically active nation.
Indonesia’s founding father and first president, Sukarno, once planned to relocate the capital to Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan province.
Infrastructure improvement has been Widodo’s signature policy and helped him win a second term in April elections.
Photo: EPA
照片：歐新社
(AP)
印尼總統表示，將把首都從雅加達這過度擁擠、地層不斷下陷和受污染的城市，遷移到婆羅洲島上人口稀少的東加里曼丹省。婆羅洲以熱帶雨林和紅毛猩猩聞名。
印尼總統佐科威上月二十六日表示，經過三年的仔細研究，最後敲定這位於婆羅洲島東部的地點。他說，這尚未命名的新首都，位於印尼這幅員廣大的群島國中部，且已具備相對完整的基礎設施，因為它鄰近巴里巴伴及沙馬林達市。
他說，爪哇島上的雅加達作為政府、金融、商業、貿易和服務業中心，以及該國最大的機場與海港所在地，負擔過重。
佐科威表示，之所以不在爪哇島上另覓他處作為新首都地點，是因為印尼的財富和人口已高度集中在爪哇島，而這些應該要分散開來。
目前該國近二點七億人口中，有百分之五十四居於爪哇島，該島為全印尼人口最稠密之地區。
「我們不能讓雅加達和爪哇島再繼續承擔不斷增加的人口密度」，佐科威在總統府的記者會上說道，「不然爪哇島和其他地方之間的經濟差距也會加大」。佐科威上個月受訪時表示，他希望把政府中心和在雅加達的商業與經濟中心分開來。
雅加達是個典型的亞洲巨型城市，人口有一千萬；若將大都會區算進來，則有三千萬人口。雅加達易受地震和洪水侵襲，且因無節制抽取地下水，地層正快速下陷。地下水和河流受到嚴重污染。每年因擁擠與交通阻塞所造成的經濟損失，據估計為六十五億美元。
礦藏豐富的東加里曼丹省過去幾乎都被雨林覆蓋，但由於非法伐木，許多原生林木已消失。該省有居民三百五十萬人，周圍是以紅毛猩猩及其他靈長類與哺乳動物而聞名的庫泰國家公園。
佐科威表示，將首都搬遷到這佔地十八萬公頃的土地，需要十年的時間，耗資高達四百六十六兆印尼盾（三百二十五億美元），其中百分之十九來自國家預算，其餘資金將來自政府與企業間之合作，以及國營公司與私營企業的直接投資。
他說，經研究，新首都最佳地點位於北佩納揚巴塞爾縣、庫台卡塔內加拉縣這兩地之間，此地區的災害風險最小，洪水、地震、海嘯、森林火災、火山爆發，或地震活躍國家常發生的山崩等風險可以降到最低。
印尼開國元勳及第一任總統蘇卡諾曾計劃將首都遷到中加里曼丹省的帕朗卡拉亞。
基礎設施的改善是佐科威所標榜的政見，這讓他在今年四月的總統大選中獲勝，得以連任。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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Questions
1. What disadvantages does the current Indonesian capital Jakarta have?
2. On which island is Jakarta? Is the proposed new capital on the same island?
3. What natural disasters is Indonesia prone to?
4. Please indicate the location of Indonesia on the map.
(Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times)
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