Benoit Goossens, the director of the Danau Girang Field Centre managed by the Sabah Wildlife Department and Cardiff University, said the shift would have a tremendous impact on the environment as construction is expected to cover vast areas of forested land.

“It will definitely have a large impact on the island of Borneo, and not necessarily positive,” he told FMT.

“I hope the Indonesian government will know how to handle this, and that it will seek the advice of environmentalists in undertaking the project.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo recently announced that the new capital will likely be located partly in the Penajam Paser Utara district and partly in the Kutai Kertanegara district.

The site is reportedly in a forested area owned by the government where natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and flooding seldom take place.

Goossens said the project would put an untold amount of pressure on Borneo.

“This is probably the biggest challenge yet,” he added.

“I just can’t see how such a project will not have a huge environmental impact on the island.”

He said any improvements in connectivity between Sabah and Kalimantan would also mean cutting through forested land.

“The Pan Borneo Highway project will already cut the head off the heart of Borneo. I can imagine much worse coming up if the capital project continues.”

Environmentalist Rahimatsah Amat however said the development of the new capital would not approach the border of either Sabah or Sarawak.

“I am not really worried about that,” he said.

For him, the more immediate concern is the Pan Borneo Highway itself.

“The main concern for us in Sabah is the highway between Sapulut and Tawau, especially with those large protected areas spreading from Maliau Basin to Tawau Hill,” he said.