Why governments are building huge cities from scratch
Oct 23, 2023
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Learn about why governments construct new capital cities like Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar and Nusantara in Indonesia. Discover the ambitious plans for an eco-city in Saudi Arabia called The Line. Explore the challenges and motivations behind building new cities from scratch and their impact on the environment and population.
Governments build new capital cities to have better control over outlying areas and develop them, but also due to paranoia about foreign attacks.
The construction of new capital cities, such as Nusantara in Indonesia, raises concerns about environmental impact and human rights issues.
Deep dives
The Creation of Mepi-Door: A New Capital City in Myanmar
Myanmar's previous military regime secretly constructed a new capital city called Mepi-Door in 2005. The regime's official reason behind the move was to have better control over outlying areas and develop them. However, the regime's paranoia about foreign attacks, influenced by events in Iraq and Libya, also played a role. The new capital city, while well-designed with tree-lined streets and prominent buildings, remains sparsely populated, mainly consisting of civil servants and their families.
Relocating Indonesia's Capital City to Nusantara
Indonesia is planning to move its capital city, Jakarta, due to issues such as sinking and severe pollution. The proposed new city, Nusantara, is more than a thousand kilometers away. The government plans to relocate around 70,000 public officers to the new city and develop housing complexes for them. However, construction is still ongoing, and concerns have been raised by human rights and environmental groups about the environmental impact of the project. The completion and realization of Nusantara as the new capital city of Indonesia remain uncertain.
The Ambitious NEOM Project in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's NEOM project aims to build a futuristic, mega-city called NEOM. One of its components is the line, consisting of two long mirrored skyscrapers and a city between them. The project, spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, forms part of the larger Vision 2030 initiative to diversify Saudi Arabia's sources of income. NEOM's progress is slowly being made, though completion is anticipated to take several years and require significant investment. Concerns have been raised regarding the treatment of migrant workers and adherence to social conventions in NEOM and other parts of Saudi Arabia.
Why would a government build an entirely new capital city? Soe Win Than, editor of the BBC Burmese service, explains why Myanmar did exactly that, starting construction of its capital city Nay Pyi Taw in 2002 and completing it ten years later. He also tells us about the extreme secrecy that went into its planning and explains why so few people wanted to move there.
Astudestra Ajengrastri, a reporter with BBC Indonesia, discusses Nusantara, which is scheduled to replace Jakarta as Indonesia’s capital in 2024. The government has promised it will be a city of the future that protects green spaces and reduces its environmental impact, but not everyone is convinced.
Saudi Arabia isn’t building a new capital city, but it has ambitious plans for an eco-city. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is spear-headng The Line, a development with no roads and no cars. It will stretch for 170 kilometres across a desert in the northwest of the country. Amira Fathalla from BBC Monitoring tells us how the development is coming along two years after plans were first released.
Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk
WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6
Presenter: Alex Rhodes
Producers: William Lee Adams and Benita Barden
Editor: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks
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