On Tuesday, the Indonesian parliament approved the law that mandates the relocation of the capital of Indonesia from Jakarta to Nusantara, a city in East Kalimantan, in Borneo. It was a predictable law: Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced plans to relocate the capital in 2019, given that Jakarta, a megacity of about 10 million people, drowning in water It is also one of the world’s busiest cities, as well as being highly polluted.

In Javanese, one of the languages ​​spoken in Indonesia, Nusantara means “archipelago,” a name that is believed to reflect the geography of the country. The relocation of the capital will begin this year, it will cost the equivalent of about 28 billion euros and will take a long time: according to the Indonesian government, this will last until 2045.

Approximately 56 thousand hectares On the island of Borneo. Environmental activists have strongly criticized the decision: on the island of Borneo there is one of the oldest rainforests in the world and it has long been damaged by processes Elimination of Forests, mainly due to the establishment of palm oil plantations, which had dire consequences for the environment and biodiversity.

– Read also: Jakarta continues to sink