Construction delays and funding challenges in the country’s new capital city have forced a scale-back of the Aug 17 Independence Day celebrations
[BALIKPAPAN, EAST KALIMANTAN] Despite delays and funding woes, Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara is near the end of its first phase of development, with visible – though limited – progress made in the building of homes, the presidential palace and a key highway linking the capital to Balikpapan, a nearby major city.
This is the state of play as the nation prepares for its first major event there – this weekend’s 79th Independence Day celebrations, which coincides with the inauguration of the capital taking over from Jakarta as the new seat of government.
The capital, located in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, is known in full as Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN) in Bahasa Indonesia.
