Aug 28, 2019 10:50:00

The reason why Indonesia moves the capital is the subsidence of up to 4 meters

by

ekoherwantoro

In April 2019, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced plans to relocate the capital from Jakarta. Then, in a press conference held on August 26, the capital of Borneo (Kalimantan) Island plans to move to the region that spans the East Kalimantan Shukita Bunajamu-Paseru Prefecture and Kutai Karutanugara Prefecture reveal you.

Indonesia will build its new capital city in Borneo as Jakarta sinks into the Java Sea | CNN Travel
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/indonesia-new-capital-borneo-jakarta-scli-intl/index.html

Jakarta has sunk by up to 4 meters, forcing Indonesia to build a new capital | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/08/why-parts-of-jakarta-have-dropped-by-four-meters/

According to reports, the construction of the new capital will start in 2021, and in 2024 it is planned to move some government functions and parliament to the new capital, Kalimantan. The complete capital relocation will take place in 2045, Indonesia's 100th year of independence. CNN reports that the budget for capital relocation will reach 486 trillion rupiah (approximately 3.6 trillion yen).

According to the United Nations, more than 10 million people live in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and an estimated 30 million people live in the urban area. A relocation will take place.


Kalimantan Island, a candidate for the capital relocation, is a separate island from Jakarta, which functions as the capital as of August 2019.


The reason for relocating the capital from Jakarta is the massive land subsidence occurring on this land. In Jakarta, land subsidence is progressing by about 3 to 10 cm every year, and depending on the region, the ground is sinking up to 4 meters. This has had a major impact on the ground foundation and infrastructure itself in Jakarta.

In addition, Jakarta is located on the coast where many rivers and the sea meet, so there is a problem that the risk of flooding is high. Not only is there a risk of flooding at high tide, but it also struggles to drain rainwater that has poured onto urban areas due to the paving of vast land, which has been plagued by massive flood damage. The

The reason why Jakarta's land is so unstable is that the reason is 'humans are doing the wrong things in the right places,' Ars Technica from overseas media wrote. In the land where rivers and rivers meet, like Jakarta, sediments flowing from the sea and rivers will naturally accumulate and be compressed. In addition, the weight of all buildings and other structures on the surface acts to compress the deposits little by little. Then, an aquifer that can draw water is formed in the basement of Jakarta. In Jakarta, the water level of the aquifer has fallen by several tens of meters due to excessive pumping of water from this aquifer.

The abundant water that existed in the aquifer entered the space between the grains of the sediment and supported it. The sediment that existed in the aquifer subsided because it could not stand the weight of the ground.

The following photos are heat maps showing the land subsidence rate of Jakarta from 1974 to 1991 (left) and from 1991 to 2010 (right). The closer the color is to red, the higher the subsidence rate of the ground, and it can be seen that the annual land subsidence amount exceeds 10 cm in a considerable area.

Jakarta is not the only one suffering from land subsidence. Similarly , land subsidence caused by groundwater pumping is occurring in New Orleans , USA and Venice, Italy. In China in Shanghai have occurred up to 2 meters or more of ground subsidence that pumping of underground water is the cause, in the United States of California Central Valley irrigation pioneered the underground aquifers for the (irrigation), occurs subsidence It is.