Will Indonesia's 'rainforest city' capital bring health risks to residents?

As Indonesia accelerates construction of Nusantara, the country's US$30 billion new capital, there are fears the city, built to ease pressure on Jakarta, will expose new residents to endemic diseases and impact the unique ecology of the carved out rainforest that will house the metropolis.

If all goes to plan, Nusantara, located in east Kalimantan and occupying 2,560 sq km, should be transformed into Indonesia's political centre by the end of 2024, replacing Jakarta, the heavily-congested and sinking capital of 10 million people, as the heart of the country.

After a pandemic-induced delay, the government has this year hastened plans to develop extensive infrastructure on the Borneo island site.

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But experts warn the public health needs of a new city in a rainforest are unpredictable with the spread of infectious diseases a very real threat - as the coronavirus and its likely animal-to-human transmission have shown.

"As we are still coming out of a pandemic, it should be very important for the government to strongly pay attention to the public health aspect of this project," said Tjandra Yoga Aditama, a professor from the University of Indonesia's medicine faculty.

"At this point, we are hearing talks about the new state palace, the tollways and the architecture, but not so much about how the government will deal with the public health situation," he added.

The region - which hosts one of the world's largest and oldest stretches of tropical rainforests estimated to be more than 100 million years old - is home to a number of endemic diseases including mosquito-borne malaria, tuberculosis and lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis.

A 2022 report by the East Kalimantan Health Agency found that several infectious diseases were still on the rise in the region, including malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

Health Ministry data also showed that dengue fever was also still prevalent in the area. East Kalimantan ranked among the top six contributors of the country's dengue cases and deaths between January and October 2022.

"It will be good to have the exact data on what the endemic diseases are in the area to give experts an understanding of the conditions of the area," said Tjandra. "We still know very little."

"The government must do a retrospective surveillance and analysis of the existing diseases to create public health policies and prevent the spread of disease in the future," he added.

In early February, Health Ministry secretary general Kunta Wibawa Nugraha said that the early focus will be on building hospitals and community health centres.

Nusantara should house 1.9 million residents by 2045.

Reaching that point is likely to mean drastic changes to the land's topography, including increased deforestation, according to environmentalists, which could have severe ecological impacts.

Indonesia has been accused of allowing firms to operate with little oversight in Borneo. For decades, the island has faced environmental degradation from commercial mining, farming and logging.

"The environmental capacity of the island has already been impacted by deforestation even before the capital city project due to the extractive industries, especially coal mining and palm oil production," said Arie Rompas, team leader for Greenpeace Indonesia's forest campaign. "As a result, the intensity of floods and ecological disasters have increased every year."

The government, however, is hoping to expand economic development to different parts of the vast archipelago nation, as it has long been concentrated on densely populated Java island.

It is also seeking to move away from Jakarta before the city sinks due to excessive groundwater extraction.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo pitched Nusantara as a utopian vision of a "green" city four times the size of Jakarta where residents will commute on electric buses, with a carbon neutral pledge by 2045 baked into the plan, in what is dubbed the world's first-ever sustainable forest city.

But according to Greenpeace's Arie, the government is yet to detail where environmental concerns are weaved into city planning.

"The environmental impact assessment does not appear to have been documented properly because there seems to be no concern from stakeholders.

"The government is not properly consulting experts, environmental groups and civil societies, and in particular with the indigenous groups already living in Kalimantan," said Arie.

Environmentalists say rare species, including endangered orangutans, as well as vegetation like mangrove trees native to the area may also face severe threats as people pour into the area.

In addition to the environmental costs, the actual costs of the project must be addressed.

The capital city project has an estimated price tag of 466 trillion rupiah (US$30 billion), with taxpayer money expected to cover about 20 per cent, according to a government estimate.

Jakarta has been working to attract potential investors, including Saudi Arabia and China, with hefty tax breaks to cover the cost.

But with some funding options falling through, including a retraction by Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank in March 2022 over concerns of a return on the investment, Indonesia faces a rush to fund Nusantara in time for prime minister Widodo's departure from office in 2024.

Observers hope that the government does not hustle through the project, and instead consults civil society and experts to prevent the new capital repeating the same mistakes made in the haphazard development of Jakarta.

"There will be uncontrolled urban sprawling similar to Jakarta in the new capital city if the right [infrastructure] planning is not done," said Dwi Sawung, campaign manager for infrastructure and spatial planning at environmental group Walhi.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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