Indonesia's $45 billion jungle capital is built, but barely lived in
Tim Swanston drives into Nusantara to find empty six-lane roads, a resident who rejects the 'ghost city' label and a budget cut to a fraction of what it was.
ABC News In-depth
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 299,071 views a day, 17 times a normal first day on this channel (17,546).
Inside the $45 billion megacity trying to become the new capital of Indonesia | ABC News
Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 1:04Reaching Nusantara means flying to Balikpapan, then driving past toll roads that are still unfinished.
- 2:17The timeline: announced in 2019, construction from 2022, an Independence Day ceremony in 2024.
- 3:29Only around 10,000 people live in the city center, and big office complexes stand vacant.
- 4:02Resident Ranty Wiyati praises the quiet life, the calm and tap water safe to drink.
- 7:13The yearly budget falls from about $3.5 billion in 2024 to $500 million in 2026.
- 10:02The authority's Dr. Alimuddin says investor hesitation is normal and government backing remains.
"You emerge from the forest and then suddenly these ultra modern buildings just appear out of nowhere," Tim Swanston says, a few minutes into "Inside the $45 billion megacity trying to become the new capital of Indonesia," his report for ABC News In-depth.
The forest is Borneo's, and the city is Nusantara, the government seat Indonesia has been building in East Kalimantan to take over from Jakarta. The description gives the reasons: Jakarta is crowded, polluted and sinking. Joko Widodo announced the move in 2019, construction began in 2022, and an Independence Day ceremony was held there in 2024. Getting there still means flying to Balikpapan and driving past unfinished toll roads.
What Swanston finds is a city waiting for its people. Only about 10,000 live in the center, and large office complexes stand empty. He can stand in the middle of a six-lane highway without worrying about traffic.
Ranty Wiyati, who works for the Nusantara Capital Authority, likes it that way. She talks about the quiet, about her mental health and about water safe to drink from the tap. "Personally, I think it's a real shame when people call this a ghost city," she says. Visiting Indonesian tourists marvel at the scale of the project.
The money tells a harder story. Under President Prabowo Subianto, the city's yearly budget fell from about $3.5 billion in 2024 to around $500 million this year. The policy expert Agus Pambagio doubts the government will have fully moved even by 2028. The authority's deputy director, Dr. Alimuddin, answers with a proverb: "the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on."
The report drew nearly 300,000 views in its first day, far beyond the channel's usual start. Underneath it, viewers compare notes from other capitals built from scratch: Malaysia's Putrajaya, Kazakhstan's move, and, fittingly for an Australian broadcaster, Canberra, which one commenter recalls spent decades as a few buildings among sheep paddocks.
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What viewers say
Knowing a bit of Australian history, it took about 15 years for Canberra to emerge as a couple of buildings standing in the middle of sheep paddocks, and about 40-50 years to start being seen as a place worth living in. If Indonesia can achieve this even quicker, then credit to them.
@bevanmlSee it on YouTubeI'm malaysian, and i still remember the first ever building constructed in Putrajaya was the Pink Mosque. In fact the mosque is consider the epicentre of the whole development.
Now I'm glad, grateful and so proud that we have a successful and well established administrative city of Putrajaya.@azlirazli7500See it on YouTubeAs a Kazakh, we used to move capital. I think Indonesia can actually solve this question.
@tumarqueenSee it on YouTube
4 more comments
Seems like not a lot of thought was put into designing roads and traffic/pedestrian flow.
Zebra/pedestrian crossings across a 6 lane highway is doomed to fail.
Surely starting with a completely blank slate this is something you want to get right.@noahjones7986See it on YouTubeGo Indonesia.I think it’s great and we’re along way off 2040.I went to Jakarta last year and yes there are a lot of people,but they are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever come across.🇦🇺
@tracey158See it on YouTubeFrom the Philippines. I really really am rooting for my Indonesian brothers and sisters!! I want Nusantara to come to fruition one day!
@kennethgimpayan3418See it on YouTubeThanks for the documentary showing the progress. I think it will do much better by having education institutions established there that attract a large number of students and teachers. I hope to visit soon. Love from Uganda 🇺🇬 ❤️
@farahmo4519See it on YouTube
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The numbers
A report on a half-empty city drew a very full first day for this channel's longer videos.
💡 Test your knowledge
Canberra, the purpose-built capital viewers compare with Nusantara, was designed by which American architect, together with Marion Mahony Griffin?
Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin won the 1912 international competition to design Australia's new capital.