Indonesia has chosen the eastern edge of jungle-clad Borneo island for its new capital, President Joko Widodo said Monday, as the country looks to shift its political heart away from congested megalopolis Jakarta. The proposed location - near the regional cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda - is in the geographical centre of the Southeast Asian archipelago and an area where the government already owns some 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of land, he added.

The site in the province of East Kalimantan is at "minimal" risk of natural disasters, he added. "As a large nation that has been independent for 74 years, Indonesia has never chosen its own capital," Widodo said in a televised speech. "The burden Jakarta is holding right now is too heavy as the centre of governance, business, finance, trade and services," he added. The government would draft a bill for the move which would be sent to parliament, Widodo said. He said the estimated cost of the project was around 466 trillion rupiah (US$33 billion).

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019