Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Staged loss / scuttling · Indonesia · 2019

Indonesia's Nusantara capital faces funding gap as Jakarta keeps sinking

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

Indonesia's new capital was costed at about 466 trillion rupiah, with 80 percent expected from private investment; by the end of 2024 private investment had reached 58.4 trillion rupiah against a 100 trillion target. North Jakarta keeps sinking as groundwater is pumped.

What?
Indonesia is building a new capital in East Kalimantan at a cost of about 466 trillion rupiah, depending mainly on private investment.
Where?
East Kalimantan (the new capital site) and Jakarta
When?
Announced 2019; Pemaluan notices March 2024; sea wall approved June 2025
Who?
Gained
  • ITCI Hutani Manunggal — Holds a 161,127-hectare concession that overlaps the western part of the new capital Bisnis.com
Lost
  • ITCI Hutani Manunggal — Expected to give up 40,000 to 50,000 hectares of its concession area Bisnis.com
Harmed
  • Residents of Pemaluan village (about 200 families) — Told in March 2024 to demolish homes within seven days; postponed after objections. The indigenous alliance AMAN estimated 20,000 people would be affected. BenarNews
  • North Jakarta residents — Land sinking from groundwater pumping; the piped network does not reach everyone, and a fishing household in Muara Angke buys water by the drum Swissinfo
Why?
Stated reasons: Jakarta's overload, floods, land subsidence, traffic and inequality between Java and other islands (government, 2019).
How?
Mainly private finance, with the state paying 20 percent of the cost; the western part of the site overlaps two concessions.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

In 2019 President Joko Widodo made the case for moving the capital out of Jakarta, citing the city's overload, floods, land subsidence, traffic and inequality between Java and other islands.

The cost was put at about 466 trillion rupiah (32 to 35 billion US dollars), with 80 percent expected from private investment (February 2025).

By the end of 2024 private investment stood at 58.4 trillion rupiah against a 100 trillion target, and the 2026 budget was cut to 6.3 trillion rupiah from 43.4 trillion in 2024.

In March 2024 about 200 families in Pemaluan village were told to demolish their homes within seven days; the order was postponed after objections (BenarNews, 13 March 2024).

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: investors may receive land-use rights of up to 190 years (marked H).
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: an AFP report that Nusantara had stalled could not be opened (the site returned an error).
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not say what happened at Pemaluan in 2025 or 2026.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Science and environment

    Groundwater
    Water held underground in soil and rock, drawn through wells.
    Hectare (ha)
    A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.
    Similar cases
    Staged loss / scuttling · Tanker / shipping · Yemen (offshore) · 2011–2019
    Brillante Virtuoso tanker
    Same type: Staged loss / scuttlingSame regionHarm to nature not measured
    Staged loss / scuttling · Tanker / shipping · Insurance declined or withdrawn · Italy · 1987–2024
    Rigel scuttling (Calabria)
    Same type: Staged loss / scuttlingHarm to nature not measured
    Staged loss / scuttling · Tanker / shipping · Insurance declined or withdrawn · Greece · 1994–2002
    Grecia Express ferry scuttling (Greece)
    Same type: Staged loss / scuttlingHarm to nature not measured
    Staged loss / scuttling · Tanker / shipping · Indian Ocean (near Minicoy) · 1977–1991
    Lucona sinking (Indian Ocean)
    Same type: Staged loss / scuttlingHarm to nature not measured
    Staged loss / scuttling · Tanker / shipping · Sierra Leone · 1985–1995
    Ikarian Reefer fire (Sierra Leone)
    Same type: Staged loss / scuttlingHarm to nature not measured
    Staged loss / scuttling · Tanker / shipping · Norway · 1978–1985
    Birgo scuttling (Norway)
    Same type: Staged loss / scuttlingHarm to nature not measured