From The Register, November 6:
A new city springs from the rainforest to become Indonesia's tech hub
Jakarta who? Indonesia's new capital, Nusantara, is packed with tech
If an entire major city was designed from scratch today, what technologies would be built into its fabric? We're discovering as we watch Indonesia erect a new capital with tech at its heart.
The nation's future capital, Nusantara, opened its doors last month to up to 300 members of the general public daily for daytime bus tours. Located on more than 250,000 hectares of rainforest land on the east coast of Borneo's Kalimantan, the city will gradually replace Jakarta as the administrative center over the next two decades.
Why move?
The problem with Jakarta is that it's quite literally sinking. In some areas, at a rate of 25 cm per year.Over-extraction of groundwater and the sheer weight of buildings — a consequence of Jakarta's role as Indonesia's commercial and administrative center--are at the root.
Jakarta's infrastructure is also notoriously inadequate and its traffic is thick and slow.
What's the new city like?
Nusantara, however, is a rare place in Indonesia where tap water is drinkable, the planned capital aims to be a model of livability and sustainability. The vision is that it will remain walkable with 75 percent of its area dedicated to green spaces.The government has planned smart energy grids to power the city using predominantly renewable energy. It's aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045. Over 21,000 solar panels were already installed as of early 2024.
The streets are set to be lined with electric vehicles and autonomous shuttles, all monitored by AI-powered surveillance systems that manage traffic while keeping emissions in check.
That surveillance is to be orchestrated by an Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) that serves as a technological nerve center.
Fully digital
Nusantara is also promised to be 100 percent digital for both residents and businesses. The government has declared its digital services will have an over 75 percent satisfaction rate.Digital connectivity is provided through state-owned operator Telkom Indonesia.
The Nusantara (IKN) Authority, alongside the State Electricity Company (PLN), is already laying the groundwork for 5G networks and smart city devices, with plans for a massive National Data Centre with 160 petabytes of capacity to support AI, IoT, and big data analytics.
But like all anticipated public projects, this too is a story of slow steps. Indonesia's second-largest mobile operator Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) spent a good part of this year simply installing just 4G LTE, spending around $10 million as of the end of last year to more than double the 30 base transceiver stations in the area.
IOH CEO Vikram Sinha justified the decision by stating, "In rural areas, 4G device penetration is still much higher than 5G, so we are focusing on expanding and strengthening our 4G network."
The eventual 5G infrastructure will support Nusantara's operation as a smart city, which NEC Indonesia signed on to plan its development, design and implementation.
Smart cities, smart buildings....
Look, it's the center of the world. Plus: Orangutans!
Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore on the left, Borneo island shared between Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia and Jakarta on Java to the southwest.
