Indonesia's president is rushing to reassure investors and bureaucrats about his $32 billion new capital city in a malaria-prone pocket of Borneo after the resignations of two officials overseeing the plan raised fresh doubts about its future.
President Joko Widodo's announcement that he will start working next month from an office in Nusantara, a giant construction site over 1,200 kilometers from the current capital, Jakarta, is unlikely to allay fears about his legacy project, analysts say.
"Investor confidence has dropped, I think. They were already in doubt and in 'wait-and-see' mode, partly because of the unclear land status, partly because of a lack of transparency in governance of the new capital," said Yanuar Nugroho, the president's former deputy chief of staff.