Bambang Brodjonegoro, national development planning minister of Indonesia, revealed the president’s plans to move the capital off the island of Java.

Speaking to Jakarta Globe after a cabinet meeting last week, Brodjonegoro said ministers have been told to suggest viable alternatives.

“We want to have a new city, which besides reflecting Indonesia’s identity, is a modern, international-class city, or a smart, green and beautiful city,” he told the news website.

Jakarta, which is home to 10 million people, has been suffering from extreme land subsidence for decades. The northern part of the city has sunk by 2.5 metres in the past 10 years, and research shows some areas could be entirely submerged by 2050.

Almost half of the city is already below sea level and flooding is frequent, thanks to the 13 rivers that run through it. Jakarta also has the worst traffic congestion of any city on the planet.

The new capital will be close to the geographic centre of the country, according to Brodjonegoro. Cities that have been proposed in the past as possible new capitals include Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan and Makassar in South Sulawesi.

“It would be central from west to east or north to south,” he told Jakarta Globe. “To represent justice and encourage development, especially in the eastern part of Indonesia.”

The move is expected to take around 10 years and will be modelled on similar projects undertaken elsewhere in the world.

Brazil famously relocated its capital from overcrowded Rio de Janeiro to the Oscar Niemeyer-designed Brasilia in 1961, while Myanmar moved its capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2005. Egypt is currently building its new capital city on the outskirts of Cairo.