Remember years ago when the government said there should be a wall or structure built to shield our then coastal capital from sinking?

Now, imagine if that ‘wall’ was so big that you can live on top of it.

Wait a moment… I am currently living on it.

Yes, Kota Seribu was built as a pilot project for a semi-floating sea city which also works as a shield to the already sinking Jakarta from the encroaching sea water. Though, regarding encroaching sea water, I admit that we humans are the one inviting them to come in by encroaching the balance of nature. Well, well, that is certainly karma.

Anyway, the city itself was finally built after our government was bold enough to pull it off no matter what. There were protests, but there were no other options, not to mention population issues also became another major driver for the project. Let us be honest, expanding the city and human settlement towards the current rehabilitating forest and pristine land would definitely trigger worse protests and destruction of nature.

A good portion of the population of Kota Seribu originated from the Greater Jakarta area, especially Jakarta itself. Therefore, a lot of people still work in Jakarta, which is not a big problem due to the extensive network of trains and buses that connect Kota Seribu and Jakarta. Only few of them would opt to use personal vehicles as the distance is too far. Also, getting one is a very complicated process. Subsequently, there are barely any traffic jams in Kota Seribu. Too bad you can only apply such a scheme only to new cities as people cannot protest much with such policies.

Tidal and wind power are the main source of energy for Kota Seribu. Thankfully scientists and engineers finally got the solution to store energy safely with complex batteries and capacitor networks. Mr Meier once told us about this, but I have yet to fully grasp the whole concept.

Unlike a certain someone that can just re-explain the concept to his friends like it was nothing in a simple manner. Good Lord, this is why I am struggling in keeping my position untouched.

Back to the energy topic. Since it is definitely dangerous for such a floating city to run out of power, the city is backed up by onshore power plants including an advanced thorium salt nuclear reactor somewhere in Central Java. The ones in Kalimantan and Bangka Belitung are too far to be connected with our power grid.

Not all of Kota Seribu is about advanced technologies. One of my favourite things about the city is the presence of plants and trees throughout the city. The city also has mangrove forest stretching from western edge of the city to the entire northern coast. Those mangroves are so-called barriers to disperse strong waves and other things the sea can throw at us.

I mean, since we planted them there after a land reclamation, that does not really count as natural.

My, my, but not everything is sunshine and rainbows regarding this city. A lot of fishermen native to Seribu Islands and coast of Jakarta lost their livelihood due to the construction of this city. Not to mention the sea creatures and ecosystem destroyed during the process.

This doom and gloom is courtesy of our Geography teacher.

~AVK~