JAKARTA: Indonesia Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has dismissed claims that Nusantara - the country’s future capital in East Kalimantan - is becoming a “ghost town”, saying the construction and phased relocation of civil servants are progressing according to plan. In an interview on Thursday (Jan 29) with B-Universe Media Holdings, Gibran said negative portrayals in some international media reports did not reflect conditions on the ground. “Many people keep asking about Nusantara because recently there were foreign media reports with negative narratives, saying it is a ghost town or stalled,” he said, as quoted by news outlet Jakarta Globe. Two weeks later on Jan 12, President Prabowo Subianto made his first presidential visit to the future capital since taking office in October 2024. He also hoped relocating the capital would correct the deep economic imbalance between the archipelago’s well-developed western provinces and its eastern frontiers.