Indonesia’s future capital Nusantara ‘not a ghost town’, expected to house 4,000 civil servants in 2026: VP Gibran

JAKARTA: Indonesia Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has dismissed claims that Nusantara - the country’s future capital in East Kalimantan - is becoming a “ghost town”, saying the construction and phased relocation of civil servants are progressing according to plan. 

In an interview on Thursday (Jan 29) with B-Universe Media Holdings, Gibran said negative portrayals in some international media reports did not reflect conditions on the ground. 

“Many people keep asking about Nusantara because recently there were foreign media reports with negative narratives, saying it is a ghost town or stalled,” he said, as quoted by news outlet Jakarta Globe.

“The development there is moving forward and from my latest visit, the progress is already quite good and on track.” 

Gibran visited Nusantara on Dec 30 last year. Two weeks later on Jan 12, President Prabowo Subianto made his first presidential visit to the future capital since taking office in October 2024.

The project is a legacy of Prabowo’s predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who is Gibran’s father. Jokowi mooted the idea of moving Indonesia’s administrative centre in 2019, arguing that Jakarta’s traffic congestion, regular flooding, polluted air and sinking land surface made it no longer fit to be the nation’s capital. 

He also hoped relocating the capital would correct the deep economic imbalance between the archipelago’s well-developed western provinces and its eastern frontiers.

During Gibran’s visit to Nusantara, he reviewed the ongoing development of infrastructure including schools, a market and buildings designated for the legislative and judicial institutions, state news agency Antara reported. 

He said last year that the government aims to complete the legislative and judicial complexes by 2027, in line with Prabowo’s target of designating Nusantara as the capital for political affairs the following year.

“The president went there to review the development and the progress is in line with the timeline,” Gibran said on Thursday. 

“Our main task now is to accelerate and closely monitor the construction of the legislative and judicial areas, which are targeted for completion in 2028.”

The relocation of civil servants is already underway and will continue in stages, with around 4,000 expected to move this year, he said.

The 38-year-old vice-president also said he has instructed his office to begin operating from the future capital and that facilities for his secretariat are nearing completion. 

“I have asked that some of our staff be moved to start working at the Vice-Presidential Palace in Nusantara … The building is already in the finishing stage. General meetings have been held. It’s basically ready, we just need to move people in,” he was quoted as saying by Jakarta Globe. 

Gibran cited completed social and commercial infrastructure as further evidence that Nusantara is far from abandoned. 

Schools ranging from the elementary to senior high levels, university facilities and hospitals have already been built, and medical equipment has been installed, he said.

“We have stayed at the civil servants’ apartment towers. The ministerial offices are there. From what I’ve seen, the progress is quite solid … Nusantara is not a ghost town,” he said. 

Observers previously noted that Prabowo’s interest in the capital relocation has seemed muted, in spite of his repeated affirmations of commitment to the US$30 billion project. Unlike in 2024 under Jokowi, Prabowo decided not to host Independence Day celebrations in Nusantara in 2025, for instance. 

But Prabowo’s visit in January, where he reviewed ongoing construction, was described by his Cabinet Secretariat as a demonstration of “the government’s commitment to ensuring that the region’s development proceeds according to plan and in a sustainable manner”.

During the trip, Prabowo spent the night in Nusantara and also visited the seaport city of Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, and Banjarbaru in West Kalimantan. 

He inaugurated 166 tuition-free schools in Banjarbaru as well as the US$7.4 billion upgrade of state oil firm Pertamina's Balikpapan refinery, which reportedly raises its production capacity to 360,000 barrels per day from 260,000 barrels per day, and will enable Indonesia to stop importing diesel fuel.