Jakarta. Indonesia currently trying to move its capital from Jakarta to a city called Nusantara in East Kalimantan, and the Southeast Asian country wants to learn from Brazil, which has done a similar relocation decades ago.

The Nusantara Capital Authority -- the body that is in charge of the relocation project -- recently signed an agreement with Brasília’s government in the Brazilian capital. The deal encompasses knowledge transfer as well as cooperation between the new capitals. 

“As Brazil’s new capital, Brasília has experience in responding to the different challenges of creating an economic and political epicentrum located at the center of the country. Nusantara can learn from this,” Nusantara capital authority body’s head Bambang Susantono was quoted as saying in a press statement on Friday.

Both cities also agreed to work together on smart city development, green initiatives, infrastructure development, and climate change, among others. The scope of cooperation includes resilient and inclusive community development, according to Bambang.

In 1960, Brasília replaced Rio de Janeiro as Brazil’s capital. Brazil at the time wanted to move the capital to a more central location in the country. Similar to the Nusantara project, Brazil built Brasilia from scratch. Brasília’s secretary-general for international relations Paco Britto expressed his city’s readiness to help with the Nusantara development.

“Both city governments can exchange experiences and work together on building two monumental cities, while also addressing the present urban challenges,” Britto said.

This marks the fifth city-level knowledge exchange cooperation that the Nusantara body had signed. Previously, the authority body has signed similar deals with Kazakhstan’s Astana, Australia’s Canberra, Singapore, and China’s Shenzhen. 

Indonesia dreams of making Nusantara a smart and green city powered by renewable energy, robust public transport systems, and even flying taxis. President-elect Prabowo Subianto has promised continuation of the outgoing Jokowi’s policies. This includes the capital relocation, which is set to be one of Jokowi’s legacies after a decade in office.

Add as a preferred source on Google +