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The Indonesian government’s rendering of the new capital and a 2022 satellite image of the location.

The Indonesian government’s rendering of the new capital and a 2022 satellite image of the location.

Source: Indonesia Ministry of Public Works and Housing; Google Maps, Airbus, Maxar Technologies, CNES, TerraMetrics, Data StO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, Landsat/Copernicus

Politics
The Big Take

Ambitious Plans to Build Indonesia a Brand New Capital City Are Falling Apart

A growing international profile has failed to attract funding for the president’s key domestic project.

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With its gleaming offices, electric buses and economically productive residents, Nusantara is the quintessential modern metropolis—smack in the middle of a vast rainforest. 

At least, that’s what the government brochures depict. What they don’t show quite so clearly is where Indonesia will find $34 billion to build a new capital city from scratch. 

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