President Joko Widodo and his government are up against a tight timetable, including a forecast by experts that at the current rate, one-third of Jakarta could be submerged by 2050.
The president said he’s determined to push through key projects and reforms, even if potentially unpopular, noting that he’ll be less constrained by domestic politics in his second and final five-year term. Widodo was reelected earlier this year.
“We want to separate the capital, the center of government and Jakarta as a business and economic center,” he said. “We don’t want all the money existing only in Java. We want it to be outside Java as well.”Jakarta’s vulnerability to flooding and earthquakes is also a factor, Widodo said. “We need to make sure our capital is safe from disasters,” he said, without naming the location for the new capital.
A steady trickle of seawater leaks through it, covering the street running alongside the wall with a shallow brackish brew. A half-submerged mosque on the bay side of the wall serves as a stark reminder of what could be in store for the entire area. Two women in the neighborhood said their homes are flooded frequently.
“Jakarta keeps sinking,” said Andreas, an expert in geodesy, or the measuring of the shape of the earth. “If subsidence continues at the same rate, 95 percent of northern Jakarta will be underwater by 2050.”Andreas said it took time for his alarming forecasts to be taken seriously by Indonesian government officials, but that planning for a giant sea wall encircling Jakarta Bay began about a decade ago.
Andreas, who is occasionally consulted by the authorities and met with government officials last week, said he expects a scaled-back version of the giant sea wall to be built for less than the initial budget.
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