Jokowi has displayed an urgency not shown by his predecessors in pressing on with the capital relocation plan, which has been periodically discussed for decades. With the greater Jakarta area, home to about 30 million people, nearing a gridlock and pollution levels reaching unhealthy levels, efforts to decongest the city have made little progress with tens of thousands of cars getting added to the roads every year.
(Aug 26): Indonesian President Joko Widodo will announce the site of the country’s new capital on Monday, ending months of speculation about the location of the new city to replace Jakarta as the administrative headquarters.
The announcement will be broadcast live from 1 p.m. Jakarta on the official YouTube channel of the president’s secretariat. Jokowi, as the president is known, recently sought lawmakers’ approval to move the capital to Kalimantan island after first proposing the relocation in April.
