January 15, 2026
JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto made his first visit to the country’s future capital city Nusantara in East Kalimantan, in what analysts deemed as an attempt to dispel doubts over his commitment to completing his predecessor’s project.
In his first appearance at the future capital since assuming office in October 2024, Prabowo arrived in Nusantara on Monday afternoon, following a working visit to Balikpapan earlier that day.
Prabowo spent the night in Nusantara and on Tuesday reviewed the progress of the ongoing construction, during which he reportedly issued a series of instructions to the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Authority to accelerate development.
The visit marked a significant moment for Nusantara’s development, a project long seen as having been set aside under Prabowo’s administration following budget cuts and the President’s prolonged absence from the site.
“Prabowo’s presence at the new capital demonstrates the government’s commitment to ensuring that the region’s development proceeds according to plan and in a sustainable manner,” the Cabinet Secretariat said in a statement on Monday.
Nusantara, initiated in 2022 under former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, was intended to be the solution to Jakarta’s perennial problems, including overpopulation, land subsidence and rising sea levels that have long mired the capital.
Since taking office, Prabowo however has significantly reduced the annual budget allocated for Nusantara’s development and only assigned Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son, to visit the site, fueling speculation over his reluctance to prioritize the project over his own flagship free nutritious meal program.
Prabowo last year approved a budget of Rp 48.8 trillion (US$2.89 billion) for the Nusantara project until 2029, only about 60 percent of what Jokowi spent, compared to the Rp 335 trillion earmarked for the free meals program.
Political analyst Wasisto Raharjo Jati of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) said Prabowo’s visit appeared aimed at countering growing public perceptions that the new capital had quietly become an abandoned town.
“This visit looks like an effort to counter the idea that Nusantara has stalled and will not be finished, similar to the Hambalang [sports complex],” Wasisto said on Wednesday.
The Hambalang project, initiated in 2010 during the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was halted in 2013 following a major corruption scandal involving senior political figures and has become an infamous failed megaproject.
Wasisto added that the visit to Nusantara also signaled Prabowo’s renewed commitment to relocating the seat of the government and his intention to establish his office in Nusantara by 2028, a year before the next presidential election.
In June last year, Prabowo signed a presidential regulation designating Nusantara Indonesia’s “political center” by 2028, with the expectation that all three branches of government would be operational there.
“From the outset, the President has emphasized the need to speed up the construction of facilities for the legislative and judicial branches, with the hope of completing them by 2028,” State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi said on Tuesday.
Prasetyo added that Prabowo also made some notes on several infrastructural designs and their functions during the visit.
Incidental visit?
However, political analyst Kennedy Muslim of pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia said that Prabowo’s visit was merely convenient considering his visit to neighboring Balikpapan earlier on Monday, where Prabowo inaugurated the onstream operation of the state-owned Pertamina refinery.
The Balikpapan refinery, which underwent a $7.4 billion upgrade, has increased its refining capacity from 260,000 to 360,000 barrels per day, making it the largest refinery in Indonesia.
“I don’t read any political angle in Prabowo’s visit to Nusantara aside from the fact that the President was just around the area […] So might as well check on Nusantara’s progress,” Kennedy said on Wednesday.
Kennedy added that the clearest indicator of Nusantara’s priority under Prabowo’s administration remained the size of the state budget allocation.
“As long as the allocation [remains limited], that tells you everything you need to know about Nusantara’s priority,” he said.