Residents of Balikpapan Bay in eastern Borneo dismiss claims that Nusantara will be a sustainable city that coexists with nature

In eastern Borneo, beyond the thick jungle forests, an epic building project is under way. Giant trucks, cement mixers and diggers lumber along battered roads. Cranes tower overhead. Yellow dust clouds the air, caking everything in reach: the leaves of eucalyptus trees, the sides of passing vehicles and the homes of nearby residents.

This site – a 2,560 sq km area encompassing industrial plantations, mines, Indigenous communities and agricultural land – is to form Nusantara, Indonesia’s new administrative capital.