Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jakarta has some of the worst traffic congestion in the world

Indonesia is moving its capital city away from Jakarta, according to the country's planning minister.

Bambang Brodjonegoro said President Joko Widodo had chosen to relocate the capital in "an important decision".

The new location is not yet known. However state media reports one of the front runners is Palangkaraya, on the island of Borneo.

Jakarta, home to over 10 million people, is sinking at one of the fastest rates in the world.

The announcement comes after Mr Widodo declared victory in the country's general election earlier this month, though official results will not be announced until May 22.

Why move the capital?

The idea of moving the capital has been floated several times since the country gained independence from the Dutch in 1945.

In 2016, a survey found that the mega-city had the world's worst traffic congestion. Government ministers have to be escorted by police convoys to get to meetings on time.

The planning minister says snarl-ups in Jakarta costs the economy 100 trillion rupiah ($6.8bn, £5.4bn) a year.

There has also been a huge programme to decentralise government for the last two decades in a bid to give greater political power and financial resources to municipalities.

Jakarta is also one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world.

Researchers say that large parts of the megacity could be entirely submerged by 2050. North Jakarta sunk 2.5m (eight feet) in 10 years and is continuing to sink an average of 1-15cm a year.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Why Indonesia's capital Jakarta is sinking

The city sits on the coast on swampy land, criss-crossed by 13 rivers.

Half of Jakarta is below sea level. One of the main causes of this is the extraction of groundwater which is used as drinking water and for bathing.

A powerful political message

By Rebecca Henschke, former editor, BBC Indonesian

Indonesians are sceptical about their capital ever moving. They have heard this before and none of Indonesia's six presidents have been able to pull it off.

But President Joko Widodo has achieved ambitious infrastructure building in his five years in office, so he may well be the man that finally does it.

Indonesia is an incredibly diverse nation made up of hundreds of ethnic groups living on thousands of islands. But economic development, national cultural identity and political power have always been dominated by the Javanese.

Indonesians have never elected a non-Javanese president and most of Indonesia's wealth is concentrated in Jakarta.

Indonesians living outside Java, particularly in the east, have long complained about being forgotten and neglected by the country's leaders sitting in the sprawling capital.

Moving the capital out of Java would send a powerful political message that this is changing, if it happens.

What are the options?

In a closed cabinet meeting, three options were reportedly discussed and presented to the president.

One involved making a special zone for government offices inside the current capital; another was to move it to just outside Jakarta and the third, the one the president preferred, was to build a brand new capital on another island.

The chief candidate is Palangkaraya, hundreds of kilometres to the north-east in central Kalimantan - the part of Borneo that belongs to Indonesia.

It is geographically close to the centre of the archipelago and Indonesia's founding father Sukarno proposed to make it the capital.

In Palangkaraya there is a mixed reaction to the idea of their sleepy city becoming the nation's capital.

One high school student told the BBC: "I hope the city will develop and the education will become as good as in Jakarta. But all the land and forest that's empty space now will be used. Kalimantan is the lungs of the world, and I am worried, we will lose the forest we have left."

Mr Brodjonegoro said that the process could take 10 years. He told reporters after the meeting that if other countries could achieve it, so could Indonesia.

"Brazil moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia near the Amazon, and look at Canberra it's built between Sydney and Melbourne, and Kazakhstan moved their capital to closer to the centre of the country and also Myanmar moved to Naypyidaw," he said.

The announcement comes after Mr Widodo vowed to spread economic development more evenly around the country.</s>Indonesia Plans To Move Its Capital Out Of Jakarta, A City That's Sinking

Enlarge this image toggle caption Dita Alangkara/AP Dita Alangkara/AP

Indonesia has announced plans to build a new capital city as its current capital, Jakarta, struggles with pollution, traffic gridlock — and the fact that the city is sinking.

After a Cabinet meeting on Monday, planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said President Joko Widodo has decided to move the capital out of Indonesia's main island, Java.

It's not clear exactly when this will happen, or where the new capital would be located. The idea has been out there for decades, though previous leaders have been unable to accomplish the ambitious plan.

Earlier this month, Widodo secured another term in office, according to independent polling organizations. His challenger also declared victory, and official results have not yet been announced.

"The idea to move the capital city appeared long ago. ... But it has never been decided or discussed in a planned and mature manner," Widodo said before the meeting, according to The Associated Press.

Jakarta faces massive challenges. As the BBC has reported, it's the fastest-sinking city in the world, with almost half of its area below sea level.

"If we look at our models, by 2050 about 95% of North Jakarta will be submerged," Heri Andreas, an expert in Jakarta's land subsidence at the Bandung Institute of Technology, told the broadcaster.

The president was reported to have considered three possible plans for Indonesia's capital. In the first scenario, according to The Jakarta Post, government offices would move to a special zone near the presidential palace to make it easier for officials to move between meetings.

In the second, the capital would be moved to an area in Java near the current one. Java sits on the western edge of Indonesia's archipelago of thousands of islands. It's the country's most populous island.

Brodjonegoro told reporters Monday that neither of these options would mitigate the crowding in Java, where more than 140 million people live, according to the Post. They ultimately decided on the third option — to locate the new capital outside of Java.

The new capital's location has yet to be announced; the planning minister said his government is looking for a location on the eastern side of Indonesia.

The area of Palangkaraya on the central island of Borneo is also reportedly in the running. Residents there are contemplating what this would mean for their small city.

"I hope the city will develop and the education will become as good as in Jakarta," a high school student told the BBC. "But all the land and forest that's empty space now will be used. Kalimantan [the Indonesian portion of Borneo] is the lungs of the world, and I am worried we will lose the forest we have left."

The planning minister acknowledged that it would take time to implement the idea."This is a big job, impossible to take just one year, it could take up to 10 years," Brodjonegoro said, according to the AP.

Jakarta's problems are largely man-made — the area's large population has extracted so much groundwater that it has impacted the ground levels, and many surface water resources are polluted.

The city's massive amount of traffic is also costly. According to the BBC, the planning minister has estimated traffic jams in Jakarta cost the economy some $6.8 billion annually.

Many other countries have, at some point, moved their capital cities. Nigeria moved its capital from Lagos to Abuja. Pakistan moved its capital from Karachi to Islamabad. Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia. And Egypt is in the process of building a new capital in the desert.</s>Indonesia's Minister of National Development and Planning Board Chief, Bambang Brodjonegoro, said President Joko Widodo favored a plan to relocate the capital from Jakarta to outside of Java Island, according to CNN Indonesia, but that the government has not yet formally decided an exact location.

According to Reuters, Brodjonegoro said on Monday that the administration was considering the eastern side of the archipelago as the destination for the new capital. However, such a move could take up to 10 years, he said,

Jakarta is home to more than 10 million people according to the United Nations, with an estimated 30 million in the greater metropolitan area.

It's also one of the fastest sinking cities in the world, according to the not-for-profit organization The World Economic Forum . The nation is prone to flooding and is sinking at an alarming rate due to over-extraction of groundwater.

Brodjonegoro estimated that government would need the equivalent of 23-33 billion US dollars to move the capital, build new infrastructure and relocate civil servants from Jakarta, CNN Indonesia reported.</s>Jakarta: Indonesian President Joko Widodo has decided to move the capital of Southeast Asia's largest economy away from the crowded main island of Java, the planning minister has said.

"The president chose to relocate the capital city to outside of Java, an important decision," Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told a news conference after a cabinet meeting, adding that the administration had yet to pick a new location.

He said moving the capital from the coastal city of Jakarta, on the north coast of Java, could take up to 10 years, citing examples such as Brazil, Malaysia and Kazakhstan.</s>Jakarta: Indonesian President Joko Widodo has announced that he will move the capital of south-east Asia's largest economy away from the crowded main island of Java, decommissioning Jakarta for the first time in the country's history as an independent nation.

"The president chose to relocate the capital city to outside of Java, an important decision," Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told a news conference after a cabinet meeting, adding that the administration had yet to pick a new location.

He said moving the capital should take between five and 10 years, citing examples such as Brazil, Malaysia and Kazakhstan.

Mr Brodjonegoro said the new capital should be in the geographical centre of the archipelago nation, should be in a place with a large availability of land that belonged to the government or state-owned enterprises, and was free from the threat of natural disasters, including the volcanos, tsunamis, land erosion and forest fires to which Indonesia is prone.</s>Indonesian President Joko Widodo has called for the country's capital to be moved from Jakarta to another city off the main island of Java. The country's planning minister says the exact location is yet to be decided and could take up to 10 years to implement. Palangka Raya on the island of Borneo is said to be the favourite to take over as capital, as it is larger and less at risk of being hit by natural disasters.

Indonesia is considering a plan to move its capital away from sprawling megalopolis Jakarta, officials said, but any jump to a new city could still be years away.

The idea of moving Indonesia’s seat of government from an urban conglomeration of nearly 30 million people with some of the world’s worst traffic jams has stretched on for decades.

Low-lying Jakarta is also prone to annual flooding and is one of the world’s fastest sinking cities due to excessive groundwater extraction.

On Monday, urban planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the long-stalled relocation plan won approval from President Joko Widodo who favoured moving the capital away from Indonesia’s most populous island, Java.

Jakarta would remain the country’s financial hub.

“(Widodo) decided on … the option to relocate the capital,” Brodjonegoro said after a cabinet meeting.

In a statement before the meeting, Widodo expressed support for the idea, but he did not give an alternate location or a timeline for any move.

“In the future, would Jakarta be able to carry the double burden of being both the centre of government and its business centre?” he asked in the statement.

“If we prepare well from the very beginning, this great (relocation) idea could be realised,” he added.

During his re-election campaign, Widodo pledged to spread economic growth more evenly in the nation of 260 million.

He won a second term this month, according to unofficial poll results.

Local media have reported that a possible new capital would be Palangkaraya city on the island of Borneo.</s>Indonesian president Joko Widodo has approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded Jakarta and move to a new capital.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo has approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded Jakarta and move to a new capital.

Indonesia set to move capital away from Jakarta

Planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said Mr Widodo decided at a special Cabinet meeting on Monday to move the capital outside of Indonesia’s most populous island, Java.

The site for a new capital has not been announced but Palangkaraya on the island of Borneo has often been rumoured as the favoured location.

Mr Brodjonegoro said a new capital would require an area of 30,000 to 40,000 hectares and have a population of up to 1.5 million.

Jakarta has a population of about 30 million in its greater metropolitan area.</s>Indonesia's president has decided to move the capital of the world's fourth most populous country away from the crowded main island of Java, but has yet to finalise a new location, the planning minister said on Monday.

President Joko Widodo's decision comes less than two weeks after private pollsters said he had won an April 17 presidential election, although official results are not due until May 22. His challenger, Prabowo Subianto, has also claimed victory.

“The president chose to relocate the capital city to outside of Java, an important decision,” Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

Mr Brodjonegoro said the administration had yet to pick a new location, but was looking at the eastern side of the sprawling archipelago.

At the opening of his cabinet meeting, Mr Widodo stressed the need for new thinking about the future.

“We want to think in a visionary way for the progress of this country and moving the capital requires thorough and detailed preparation,” he said.

The current capital, Jakarta, is home to more than 10 million people, but around three times that many people live in the surrounding towns adding to the area's severe congestion.

Mr Brodjonegoro put the annual economic loss due to traffic congestion in Jakarta at 100 trillion rupiah (£5.5 billion).</s>Indonesian president Joko Widodo has approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded Jakarta and move to a new capital.

Planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said Mr Widodo decided at a special Cabinet meeting on Monday to move the capital outside of Indonesia’s most populous island, Java.

The site for a new capital has not been announced but Palangkaraya on the island of Borneo has often been rumoured as the favoured location.

Mr Brodjonegoro said a new capital would require an area of 30,000 to 40,000 hectares and have a population of up to 1.5 million.

Jakarta has a population of about 30 million in its greater metropolitan area.</s>JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s decades-long discussion about building a new capital has inched forward after President Joko Widodo on Monday approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta.…

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s decades-long discussion about building a new capital has inched forward after President Joko Widodo on Monday approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta.

Widodo decided at a special Cabinet meeting to move the capital outside of Indonesia’s most populous island, Java, said Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. It was one of three options discussed. The other alternatives were moving to a location near Jakarta or staying put and relocating all government buildings to a special zone around the presidential palace.

The site for a possible new capital hasn’t been announced, but Palangkaraya on the island of Borneo has often been rumored as the location. Brodjonegoro, however, said eastern Indonesia is favored.

“This is a big job, impossible to take just one year, it could take up to 10 years,” he said.

Prone to flooding and rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled ground water extraction, Jakarta is the archetypical Asian mega-city creaking under the weight of its dysfunction. Only 4% of Jakarta’s waste water is treated, according to the government, causing massive pollution to rivers and contaminating the ground water that supplies the city. Congestion is estimated to cost the economy $6.5 billion a year.

Before the Cabinet meeting, Widodo said other countries such as Malaysia, South Korea and Brazil set up new capitals as part of their development as nations.

“The idea to move the capital city appeared long ago,” he said. “But it has never been decided or discussed in a planned and mature manner.”

Improving inadequate infrastructure in the country of 260 million has been Widodo’s signature policy and helped him win a second term in elections earlier this month.

Brodjonegoro said a new capital would require an area of 30,000 to 40,000 hectares (about 74,000 to 99,000 acres) and have a population of between 900,000 and 1.5 million.

Jakarta has a population of about 30 million in its greater metropolitan area.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo has decided to relocate the nation's capital from Jakarta, on the northwest coast of Java island. The new location and timing are not yet known. Jakarta, home to over 10 million people, is sinking at one of the fastest rates in the world; almost half of its area is below sea level.