Central Province is a province in Papua New Guinea located on the southern coast of the country. It has a population of 183,983 (2000 census) people and is 29,500 square kilometres (11,400 sq mi) in size. The seat of government of Central Province, which is located within the National Capital District outside the province, is the Port Moresby suburb of Konedobu. On 9 October 2007, the Central Province government announced plans to build a new provincial capital city at Bautama, which lies within Central Province near Port Moresby, although there has been little progress in constructing it.