Page 6 - aruba-today-20220127

A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 27 January 2022
Indonesia’s capital is sinking, polluted and now moving

By EDNA TARIGAN and ily polluted, it floods regu-
NINIEK KARMINI larly and its streets are so
Associated Press clogged that it is estimated
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) congestion costs the econ-
— Jakarta is congested, omy $4.5 billion a year.
polluted, prone to earth- In constructing a purpose-
quakes and rapidly sinking built capital, Indonesia
into the Java Sea. Now the will be taking a path that
government is leaving, and others have in the past, in-
moving the country’s capi- cluding Pakistan, Brazil and
tal to the island of Borneo. Myanmar.
President Joko Widodo en- The committee oversee-
visions the construction of a ing the construction is led
new capital as a panacea by Abu Dhabi’s crown
for the problems plaguing prince, Sheikh Moham-
Jakarta, reducing its popu- med bin Zayed Al Nahyan
lation while allowing the — no stranger to ambitious
country to start fresh with building projects at home
a “sustainable city” that in the United Arab Emirates
has good public transpor- — and also includes Ma-
tation, is integrated with its sayoshi Son, the billionaire
natural environment and is founder and chief execu-
in an area that’s not prone tive of Japanese holding
to natural disasters. A woman carries her baby outside of her house in a low-income neighborhood next to a polluted company SoftBank, and
“The construction of the city canal in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. Associated Press former British Prime Minister
new capital city is not Tony Blair, who currently
merely a physical move of a wide array of other wild- “archipelago” — will entail live on Java, the country’s runs the Tony Blair Institute
government offices,” Wido- life, as well as committing constructing government most densely populated is- for Global Change.
do said last week ahead of $34 billion to the ambitious buildings and housing from land and where Jakarta is State funds will pay for 19%
parliament’s approval of project amid a global pan- scratch. Initial estimates located. of the project, with the rest
the plan. “The main goal is demic. were that some 1.5 million Jakarta itself is home to coming from cooperation
to build a smart new city, a “The new capital city’s civil servants would be re- about 10 million people between the government
new city that is competitive strategic environmental located to the city, some and three times that num- and business entities and
at the global level, to build study shows that there are 2,000 kilometers northeast ber in the greater metro- from direct investment by
a new locomotive for the at least three basic prob- of Jakarta, though min- politan area. state-run companies and
transformation ... toward lems,” said Dwi Sawung, an istries and government It has been described as the private sector.
an Indonesia based on in- official with the WALHI envi- agencies are still working to the world’s most rapidly Public Works and Housing
novation and technology ronmental group. finalize that number. sinking city, and at the cur- Minister Basuki Hadimul-
based on a green econo- “There are threats to water It will be located in the vi- rent rate, it is estimated that jono said initial planning
my.” systems and risks of climate cinity of Balikpapan, an one-third of the city could had been carried out by
Skeptics worry, however, change, threats to flora East Kalimantan seaport be submerged by 2050. The clearing 56,180 hectares
about the environmen- and fauna, and threats of with a population of about main cause is uncontrolled (138,800 acres) of land to
tal impact of plunking a pollution and environmen- 700,000. ground water extraction, build the presidential pal-
sprawling 256,000-hectare tal damage,” she said. Indonesia is an archipel- but it has been exacerbat- ace, the national parlia-
(990 square mile) city down First proposed in 2019, Wido- ago nation of more than ed by the rising Java Sea ment and government of-
in Borneo’s East Kalimantan do’s plan to establish the 17,000 islands, but currently due to climate change. fices, as well as roads link-
province, which is home to city of Nusantara — an old 54% of the country’s more Beyond that, its air and ing the capital to other cit-
orangutans, leopards and Javanese term meaning than 270 million people ground water are heav- ies in East Kalimantan.q

Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar

count deaths, damage by storm

heavy rains across southern inspect a bridge that had knocked over by flooding
Africa. been closed by the flood- waters and hydro turbines
In central and northern Mo- ing. Minutes after his vehi- have been clogged by
zambique at least 11 peo- cle was taken, the middle large piles of debris carried
ple have died, including section of the bridge was by the waters. Although
children and elderly, and swept away, according to Ana has weakened to be-
several bridges and roads reports in local media. come a moderate tropi-
have been washed away, Bridges were also dam- cal depression, much of
according to a statement aged in Mozambique’s the southern African region
from Mozambique’s disas- Zambezia province where continues to get torren-
In this image made from video, people stand on an overturned ter management authority. many residential areas are tial rains. Prolonged rains
vehicle swept by flooding waters in Chikwawa, Malawi, Tuesday Among the dead is the cut off by the high waters have increased the dam-
Jan. 25, 2022. administrator of the north- and there are reports of age in Madagascar, where
Associated Press western city of Tete whose people on roofs calling for the death toll has risen to
By A. NHAMPOSSA car and Malawi are count- vehicle was swept away help. Electricity has also 39 and more than 101,000
Associated Press ing the deaths and dam- on Tuesday by the surg- been cut off to large parts people have been made
MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) age by tropical storm Ana ing waters of the Revuboe of Mozambique and Ma- homeless by the flooding,
— Mozambique, Madagas- and more than a week of River as he was going to lawi as pylons have been said officials.q