Reports of an on-going study by the Indonesian government to relocate the capital from Jakarta have reinvigorated a decades-old debate over where the next administrative centre of the country should be.
But while the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), the agency tasked with conducting the feasibility study, believes a move could be possible in five years, others are not as hopeful and have called for more efforts to resolve the urban issues affecting Jakarta instead.
These include the problem of over-crowding in the city of 10 million, and the regular traffic congestion on Jakarta's main thoroughfares and highways to the suburbs.
President Joko Widodo, however, seems serious about making the move and had hinted earlier this year during a visit to Palangkaraya that the provincial capital of Central Kalimantan could be the new political and administrative hub.
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-studying-plan-to-relocate-capital
But while the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), the agency tasked with conducting the feasibility study, believes a move could be possible in five years, others are not as hopeful and have called for more efforts to resolve the urban issues affecting Jakarta instead.
These include the problem of over-crowding in the city of 10 million, and the regular traffic congestion on Jakarta's main thoroughfares and highways to the suburbs.
President Joko Widodo, however, seems serious about making the move and had hinted earlier this year during a visit to Palangkaraya that the provincial capital of Central Kalimantan could be the new political and administrative hub.
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-studying-plan-to-relocate-capital
