Crypto News: Indonesia’s new capital faces a murky future

The planned city of Nusantara is intended to be outgoing President Joko Widodo's biggest legacy: a new center for the Indonesian government, which will be free of the overcrowding and flooding that afflict the current capital city of Jakarta.

The new Presidential Palace looms over construction works in Nusantara. Photographer: Muhammad Fadli/Bloomberg

But two years after construction broke ground — and ahead of Independence Day on Saturday, when the new capital will be inaugurated — city plans mapped onto satellite imagery from mid-July show roads still unpaved and buildings unfinished. Much of the government area, in fact, consists of dirt and standing water. As Chandra Asmara, Yasufumi Saito and Christopher Udemans report, the $29 billion megaproject has failed to attract significant investment and has been plagued by delays. Today on CityLab: Indonesia's New Jungle Capital Is a Work in Progress

— Linda Poon

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A shady laundry deal scandalizes a major migrant shelter in Arizona (New Republic)
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