Among them are the two largest Arab and Islamic countries. 10 countries have resorted to changing their capitals in the past years

The two largest Islamic and Arab countries are racing against time to move their political capitals to other regions, partly for political reasons and some for climatic and environmental considerations.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, announced today that it plans to move its capital to Borneo island away from Jakarta, a huge city strangled by traffic jams and threatened with drowning at a rapid pace, while Egypt, the largest Arab countries, began to establish a new administrative capital at a cost of about $ 45 billion.

From Jakarta to Borneo
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday that a site in the east of Borneo island had been chosen to relocate the country's political capital, instead of Jakarta, a huge and overcrowded city threatened by rising water.

The president said the site was first chosen "because it is not very vulnerable to natural disasters" such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. A large part of the Indonesian archipelago lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The idea of ​​moving the capital Jakarta to another place was put forward during the Dutch colonial period, and then put forward by Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia in 1957, but the economic and political conditions postponed the implementation of the idea, and at that time the government was planning to make Palangkaraya in the center of Kalimantan a new capital, near the place visited by President Jokoi In the past few days.

The idea came up again during the era of President Suharto, and despite the length of his rule, he did not complete it, although the proposed area was close to the current capital towards the province of Bogor in the south.

In 2010, former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono put forward the options for transition to study and research, but the project was not completed within a decade of his rule.

Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla spoke about the requirement of certain specifications of the location of the new administrative capital, including the nature of the population of the region, and acceptance of the idea and the arrival of others to their region, and the center of the map of Indonesia, and be less vulnerable to disasters, especially earthquakes, floods and volcanoes, and that the target land belongs to the state or its companies Reduce the cost of reconstruction.

They should not be far from the coast, not close to the country's borders with neighbors, and have adequate water resources. The final requirement for infrastructure and the existence of an airport, port and a good telecommunications network in the region remain debated, as it is difficult to meet all those conditions and specifications in one area.

Yusuf Kalla predicted that it would take between 10 and 20 years for the project to be fully implemented, because it was related to the transfer of central government institutions from the presidency, ministries, parliament, senate, constitutional court, etc. It would require, according to Kala's assessment, the transfer of 1.5 million government employees and their families, which means The need for about 400,000 new housing units, and the completion of this will not end in a short time.

Moving the capital to Borneo allows for a rebalancing of growth in the archipelago where Java has the biggest burden. It has half of the country's 260 million people and 60 percent of the economy.

Planning Minister Bambang Prodogonegoro believes that after a preparatory phase in 2020, the transfer of government bodies is supposed to start from 2024.

Nigeria
Africa's most populous country moved its capital in 1991 from the bustling Lagos to Abuja, a city built according to urban planning in the 1980s, more central and less crowded.

Australia
Canberra became Australia's official capital in the late 1920s, as a compromise between Sydney and rival Melbourne, whose population far exceeds its population of nearly 400,000.

Pakistan
Pakistan has moved the seat of government from Karachi on the far east coast of the country to Islamabad, which was built in the 1960s. Designed by a Greek engineer, the new capital is known for its greenery and high standard of living.

Burma
Burma (Myanmar's other poison) moved its capital from Rangoon to central Naypyidaw in mid-2000. The city's vast land area is six times the size of New York. It is famous for a copy of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, and a highway of 20 lanes, often unused due to the low population density.

Brazil
Brazil began relocating its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia in 1960.The city is located within the vast Amazon region, famous for its modern and large-scale architecture, and was classified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the World Heritage List in 1987.

Kazakhstan
Astana, which was recently named Nur Sultan after the former president, became the administrative center of the country in 1997, taking this status from Almaty. Designed by a Japanese architect, the city is known for its modern design buildings.

Egypt
Egypt plans to move to a new administrative capital being built between the Cairo-Suez and Cairo-Ain Sokhna roads. The new capital is 60 kilometers from Cairo, with a population of about 20 million, separated by the same distance from Ain Sokhna and Suez.

Malaysia
Malaysia also relocated the administrative center to Putrajava in 1999, keeping Kuala Lumpur as the country's official capital.

South Korea
South Korea has built a new capital, Sejong City. Despite its apparent calm, some 300,000 people are employed daily, and about two-thirds of ministries and public administrations are there.

Sejong's idea began in the 1970s when political forces discussed moving the capital south, away from the border with the North for fear of any aggression from its neighbors (Seoul, about 50 kilometers from the North Korean border).

But the project came to light only in the 21st century. It began with an election promise in 2002 by then-presidential candidate Mu Hyun Roo, and one year before his presidential term ended, the man fulfilled his electoral promise to start working on the new capital in 2007.

It took only five years to build an entire city on an area of ​​500 square kilometers, which currently contains about 60% of the official departments in the country.

Five key ministries have been retained in the capital Seoul, which needs daily contact with the House of Representatives.

Officials say there is serious debate about relocating these ministries in the coming years to Sejong as well as the House of Representatives.