Jakarta. The government gets back to the idea of moving Indonesia's capital city from Jakarta to a new location, preferably outside Java.

A study by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) to assess the idea is expected to conclude later this year. There are several candidates for the new capital, including Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan.

"It has to be outside Java Island," Bappenas head Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Monday (10/04).

According to Bambang, a strong argument for Palangkaraya is that Indonesia's first President Sukarno already in the 1950s was considering the move.

Java, particularly Jakarta and its surrounding cities, has since decades been dominating the country's economic landscape. Also roughly 78 percent of the total tax collection comes from the island's economic activities.

In 2016, Java contributed 58.49 percent to the gross domestic product, followed by Sumatra (22.03 percent), Kalimantan (7.85 percent) and Sulawesi (6.04).

"There's a need to build a new economic center outside Java," Bambang said.

Huge floods in 2013, which froze Jakarta's transportation and economic activities, were another trigger, beside redressing the country's economic balance, that made the relocation idea resurface.

Many also argue that Jakarta is too crowded to guarantee proper living standards for its inhabitants.