Nusantara project back in spotlight, but challenges remain for Prabowo

Visit to new capital site comes amid doubts over budget cuts, competing priorities

- Hariz Baharudin

2025; showing the presidential palace and government ministry buildings under development in the Nusantara Capital City: The question remains as to how far the city can advance while the Prabowo administration balances other competing priorities through its costly flagship programmes.

(PHOTO: AFP)

After months on the sidelines, Indonesia’s planned new capital Nusantara was thrust back into the spotlight on Jan 12 when President Prabowo Subianto flew in by helicopter for his first presidential visit to the site.

Mr Prabowo arrived as crews in hard hats were still at work across the vast development in East Kalimantan. He toured ongoing projects, met workers on site and, amid the noise of construction, chose to spend the night in the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) for the first time as head of state.

The highly choreographed visit, live-streamed on YouTube and amplified across social media, came amid growing questions on whether the project, launched by his predecessor Joko Widodo, was still truly alive under the new administration. Construction has continued, but budget cuts and competing priorities have fuelled doubts over how firmly Nusantara still fits within Mr Prabowo’s agenda.

The visit was intended to signal continuity and commitment, and during the trip, Mr Prabowo reaffirmed his commitment to the roughly US$32 billion (S$41.1 billion) project by setting fresh targets for completing the Parliament and court buildings by 2028.

But while the visit reinforced Nusantara’s political status, the question remains as to how far the city can advance while the administration balances other competing priorities through its costly flagship programmes.

Bank Permata economist Josua Pardede described Mr Prabowo’s overnight stay and deliberately high-profile optics as "a political signal of ownership and irreversibility".