It has been the economic heartbeat of the world’s fourth most populous country for almost 500 years, but Jakarta’s days as Indonesia’s capital could be numbered. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently revived a radical plan to shift the capital to a new location in order to tackle the threat of floods.
Could this be a good opportunity for retailers to expand their territories in the country by launching business in a new capital?
Situated on Java’s northwest coast, Jakarta is a city choked with traffic and garbage, which has been pushed to breaking point as its population surges above 12 million and its foundations sink under the weight of rampant development.
A World Bank study has found that by 2025 the sea could be lapping at the gates of the presidential palace in the centre of the former spice capital, known until 1942 as Batavia.
(Source: The Sydney Morning Herald)