NUSANTARA – The only thing that was visible was a practical skull on a barren plot of land, which the hot May sun had whipped up against. This, I was safely informed by my guide, may be a state-of-the-art clinic for Indonesia’s fresh funds Nusantara, in East Kalimantan.
When would it be prepared? Only in time for the anticipated transfer of the leader and a second wave of civil servants from Jakarta, they claimed, in August, just in time for the Independence Day ceremony scheduled for August 17.
People are now questioning whether the upcoming leadership transition in Indonesia’s government will put the$ 30 billion megaproject in the trash bin of history just four months later.
Due to a lack of infrastructure, the transport of civil servants was delayed, and President Joko Widodo left after a dozen symbolic days of work it. The doctor, however, is apparently still under development.
President-elect Prabowo Subianto has officially stated that he is committed to carrying out the transport and construction of the new investment.
However, there are first indications that he may be reluctant to commit such large sums of money to a legacy project once he becomes in charge, especially given his own extravagant saving strategies.
” ]Widodo ] I believe has taken on a historic role in initiating this, at the very least I will continue, and if possible I will complete it”, declared Prabowo, as he visited the building site of the new capital last month.
As part of his vote plan, Prabowo presented himself as the successor to Widodo and enjoyed his silent, if not explicit, backing by tapping Widodo’s boy as his running mate. Both sides have made arduous efforts to keep their alliance together, yet with his victory now secured.
However, the current state and representatives of the approaching Prabowo leadership worked closely with the funds allocated for the new money in the August outline of the budget for 2025. Just 143.1 billion rupiah ($ 9.4 million ) has been budgeted for the capital next year, compared to the 2.5 trillion rupiah ($ 2.8 billion ) allocated in 2024.
Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the country’s current finance minister, has since explained that the 143.1 billion ringgit mark did not always indicate the total amount of the new investment in 2025.
The incoming government can simply choose its own paying interests when it takes office thanks to the federal budget design. ” Everything has been baselined in order to provide the president-elect the authority to determine, to change, according to the interests of his case”.
However, some suspect that Prabowo’s individual wide spending plans may leave small space for Nusantara. Prabowo repeatedly promised free meals to all Indonesian students and health assistance for pregnant women on the plan path.
To begin implementing that social program the government has allocated an initial$ 71 trillion rupiah ($ 4.7 billion ) budget. According to Prabowoo, the annual total cost could eventually increase to 400 trillion rupiah ($ 26 billion ).
Different policy priorities, such as the costs of Indonesia’s military and national food house projects, are also heavily influenced by the new funds.
However, Nusantara may already be nearing a expenditure crunch. With an estimated total cost of around 466 trillion rupiah ($ 30 billion ), the Indonesian government initially projected that only 20 % – 93.2 trillion rupiah ($ 6 billion ) – of the funding would come from the state, with the other 80 %  , – 372.8 trillion rupiah ($ 24 billion ) – ponied up by private investors.
The government has already sunk 80 trillion rupiah ($ 5.3 billion ) of investment into Nusantara, according to Minister for National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa, leaving only a slim 13 trillion rupiah ($ 855 million ) left to spend if the original plans are honored.
However, private investment has certainly turned up on the size required. Although precise images are unknown, Indonesian conglomerates ‘ only apparent key commitments come from a small number of them. Despite the government’s conscious efforts to lure them, foreign investors have remained silent.
A key issue seems to be uncertainty – and not just about Prabowo’s purposes. In particular, area consolidation problems continue to plague the mega-development. The government announced plans to address payment and relocation issues affecting masters of 2, 086 hectares of “unclear position” in May.
A shake-up in the site’s management has never helped matters. Former Secretariat heads and deputy heads Bambang Susantono and Dhony Rahajoe both resigned in June, apparently as a result of the president’s dissatisfaction with the site’s slow development.
However, sources within the organization claim that decision-making is still slow and that they are unsure whether the newly appointed standing head and assistant brain will continue to do so after October 20 when Prabowo takes office.
Users of the Jakarta tea leaf are watching closely for evidence of the approaching Prabowo government’s curiosity, or lack of, in Nusantara. Many people took note of the fact that Prabowo’s article in Newsweek did not mention the new capital when articulating his governing priorities, which prompted several surrogates to hastily assure the press that their employer remained determined to Widodo’s vision.
One factor apparently weighing in the site’s pursuit is Prabowo’s nephew, Hashim Djojohadikusumo. Hashim owns a significant tract of land in the area that is close to the proposed new cash through a company called PT ITCI Kartika Utama.
Hashim does not appear to be directly involved in the construction of the capital, but if the project is successful, he could profit from rising property prices there.
Businesses under Hashim’s power are also considering constructing a dam on property owned by Hashim’s business to supply Nusantara with clean water.
Hashim, who reportedly owes Switzerland 139 million European Francs in returning taxes, would certainly benefit from for developments. He helped finance his friend’s election campaigns.
Nusantara is regarded as the Widodo era’s last bold endeavor, a president’s final achievement that included the ambitious reconstruction of Indonesia’s infrastructure into his brand.
Some people have long acknowledged that the location of the mega-city money helps strengthen the dangerous Java-centrism of Indonesia. The issues of the current investment Jakarta are well known.
However, the president was always the main force behind the project – with apparently limited enthusiasm, even within his own government, for the idea initially. This, many now speculate, makes it vulnerable to political change.
Indonesia has twice looked into moving the capital. Sukarno began construction on Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan in the 1960s, just a few hundred kilometers from Nusanatra, but the work was put on hold after Suharto threw himself in a coup.
Plans were shelved when protests toppled his dictatorship in 1998, but the Suharto government considered building a new administrative capital in West Java in the 1990s. Widodo’s Nusantara may be just the most recent capital-imaging dream project to fail in a power transition.