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 (¥4.56 trillion) to build a new capital city from scratch.
With just 18 months left in his final term, Indonesian President Joko Widodo is still aggressively courting international investors to finance 80% of a project that he hopes will elevate Indonesia’s economy, resettle millions of people from a rapidly sinking Jakarta and cement his own legacy. Hosting this year’s Group of 20 summit was just the latest opportunity for the president, popularly known as Jokowi, to pitch the ambitious project.