November 14, 2025
JAKARTA – There comes a time when persistence becomes denial. The country’s ambitious plan to move its capital to Nusantara in East Kalimantan, once heralded as a leap toward a fairer, greener and more balanced archipelago, now faces a reckoning that goes beyond engineering or logistics.
The question is no longer whether the relocation can be done, but whether it still should be.
When former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo launched the project in 2019, he cast it as a grand vision to rebalance the nation’s growth away from Java and toward a more sustainable future.
Yet six years later, the new capital remains a vast construction site with only 60 percent of its basic infrastructure complete.
The Rp 30 trillion (US$1.8 billion) promised from private investment has barely materialized, with less than a fifth realized as of late 2025. The rest depends on the goodwill of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the public purse, both already stretched.
President Prabowo Subianto has signaled a desire to continue Jokowi’s legacy, but his government’s own budget priorities tell a different story.
This year’s funding freeze on the Nusantara project, to make room for other initiatives such as the free nutritious meal program, is a reminder that even visionary projects must bend to fiscal reality.
With only Rp 48 trillion allocated for the capital through 2029, down from Rp 75 trillion during Jokowi’s final term, the dream of a fully functioning city by 2045 now looks more like a wish than a plan.
It pains us to say it, but if we as a nation cannot commit the resources required to finish Nusantara, we should not push ahead merely to save face.
Indonesia must decide whether to overcome the sunken-cost fallacy, the belief that money already spent justifies spending even more, or to cut its losses before the hole grows deeper.
The government insists that Nusantara’s second construction phase will focus on public transportation and government housing, and that up to 4,100 civil servants will begin relocating this year.
Yet relocation alone cannot make a city. With few private investors willing to follow, and with only one of six planned hotels operating, the city’s economy remains imaginary.
Even retail developers, who normally bet on population growth, are holding back. “Shops must follow demand, not precede it,” one industry leader reminded us recently. The same logic applies to entire cities.
Nusantara’s greatest challenge is not engineering but economics. Building a functioning capital requires a sustainable ecosystem of jobs, housing, services and commerce; none of which can emerge without a population base.
Yet the government cannot keep asking SOEs to act as loss-making pioneers. The imperative on state asset fund Danantara to make state firms more profit-oriented leaves little room for unprofitable nation-building.
Someone, ultimately, has to bite the bullet and invest in Nusantara at the risk of not making a profit. Otherwise, the project will remain an expensive symbol without a soul.
For all its lofty promises, like reducing congestion in Jakarta, mitigating climate risk and showcasing sustainable design, Nusantara’s credibility rests on clarity. Constant policy shifts, from Jokowi’s “global green city” to Prabowo’s “political capital”, have only deepened investor skepticism.
If the city’s purpose is limited to housing government offices, then it no longer needs to be built to international standards. And if that is the case, Indonesia must be honest with itself about what Nusantara is meant to be.
Abandoning the project entirely would be politically costly and symbolically painful. Yet persisting without conviction may be costlier still.
The current administration must choose between recommitting fully and transparently or recalibrating the project’s scale and timeline. Either path demands candor and courage.
Indonesia’s history is full of grand projects that outlived their logic. Nusantara need not join that list.
Whether we choose to finish the city or redefine it, a decision must be made. The future capital deserves nothing less than the certainty we once promised it.