Impending doom awaits Jakarta. With rising sea levels and a low ground level, the capital of Indonesia is to become uninhabitable in 30 years. Hence why, the government is going to move the capital to a completely new city on Borneo: Nusantara. But to overcome the water, a huge challenge lies ahead. Before we delve in, here's a fun fact: The Dutch are actually helping them.
And the reasoning behind their aid is quite an obvious one. Because water has always been an enemy for the Dutch population. Until 1953, effective solutions to this threat were treadmills, the Afsluitdijk and other small dikes. However, an unknown engineer, Johan van Veen, already warned that those dikes were not prepared for a big flood. And he didn't sound the alarm once, but for over fifteen years. And doctor Cassandra, as he would call himself, was right in the end. Because in January 1953, big parts of the south-west of the Netherlands flooded, which is known as the flood disaster. Nearly two thousand people died and hundred thousand people fled. And it could have been worse, since the river level was one meter lower than usual.
But that's not the end of the story. The same Johan van Veen also contributed to one of the most radical solutions after the disaster, the Deltaplan. The goal of the project, which is later proclaimed as one of the seven modern world wonders , was to prevent such a catastrophe from ever happening again. And money wasn't a big deal anymore. Converted to the current price index, it costs 210 billion euros. In contrast, the new Dutch government will spend an extra 35 billion euros on climate change. That shows the difference in urgency. And as a consequence, the Dutch knowledge is used all around the world.
So in the mind of Johan van Veen, Dutch companies are currently helping Jakarta with the building of the “Giant Sea Wall”, a forty-six kilometer long dike to prevent Jakarta from future floods. And that's quite necessary. The sea level rise – that is predicted to be 45 to 75 centimetres in 2100 – is not even the most important factor. Jakarta is built on swampy ground and has thirteen rivers. By pumping groundwater to solve these issues, the ground level is going down by about 10 centimeters per year. Keeping in mind that 40 percent of Jakarta is already under sea level, you don't have to be a genius to see that this situation is not sustainable.
So a move to Nusantara seems quite obvious, right? Not if you're asking the citizens of Jakarta ( Kedailopi: 95.7% of respondents in Jakarta do not agree that the capital is moving ). Because Jakarta is still the economical heart of Indonesia for the working class. On the other hand, the poorest who live in townships don't have a good incentive to move to the other side of the country. Secondly, it is not realistic to build a city for 10 million people from the ground in 30 years. And at last it has to be ecologically responsible, because Nusantara lies near one of the oldest rainforests of the world.
So while Indonesia is standing for one of the crucial points in history, there still isn't unity about the best solution. A gigantic dike is just temporary and it is unrealistic to move all 10 million Jakartans to the new capital city. But I hope the decision will be taken soon, because it will not only cost a lot of money, but also lives. And maybe the Dutch can help them with that.