Indonesia's Prabowo affirms commitment to new capital city in first visit as president

FILE PHOTO: President-elect Prabowo Subianto (right) and President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (centre) stand before the press in front of the newly finished Garuda Palace in the future capital Nusantara on Aug. 12, 2024. - State Secretariat via The Jakarta Post/ANN

JAKARTA: ‌Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto reiterated his commitment to a US$32 billion project to build the country's new capital city as he made his first overnight stay there as president, the government said.

Questions about the fate of the Nusantara capital city project have lingered since Prabowo took office in October 2024. The project is a legacy of ‌his predecessor, Joko Widodo, who first announced his plan ⁠to move the capital 1,200 km away from overcrowded and sinking Jakarta in Java island in 2019.