The Asian country of Indonesia is building a new capital city.
The country’s parliament has just passed a law that approves the moving of its capital Jakarta to a site 1,300 kilometres away.
The current capital city, Jakarta, sits on low-lying land on the large island of Java. However, this has become crowded, polluted and is sinking quickly.
The new capital city will be called ‘Nusantara’ and will be on the island of Borneo, known for its jungles and orangutan population.
Indonesia, which is north of Australia, is made up of 17,000 islands.
Jakarta – Why is the capital city sinking?
Jakarta is home to over 10 million people and in the last 10 years, the city has sunk by 4m in some places.
Why? The city is on the coast and is on very swampy land. It’s also crossed by 13 rivers. Added to this lots of the groundwater is used for drinking water and for washing. This makes the city sink further into the ground.
One Response
wow thats very interesting them make in a new city