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outh Sulawesi capital of Makassar is now home to a world-class recreation facility, Trans Studio Theme Park, an indoor recreation center with more than 20 features and rides.

The park was inaugurated by Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Wednesday and will be opened to the public soon.

The Trans Studio Theme Park is currently billed as the biggest indoor recreational park with an indoor area spanning up to 3 hectares, beating Disneyland in the United States and Lotte World in South Korea, which span around 1.7 hectares indoors.

It is the first theme park initiated by a television broadcasting company Trans Corp. which operates Trans TV and Trans 7 private television stations.

A number of programs aired by the TV stations are also featured in the recreational games and rides, such as Jelajah, Dunia Lain and Si Bolang.

Trans Studio is managed by PT Trans Kalla, a collaboration between two major corporates - the Para Group, owned by the Chairul Tanjung family and Kalla Group, owned by Kalla.

In the joint venture, the Kalla Group provided the land and the Para Group built the entire facility.

This was the reason behind the establishment of the Trans Studio Theme Park in Makassar, said Trans Studio managing director Wibowo Iman Sumantri, besides economic considerations.

"We had chosen Makassar because the Kalla family had provided the land, but we also considered the economic side, especially further economic growth in South Sulawesi which is currently the highest in Indonesia."

Another reason is that South Sulawesi is the main gateway to eastern Indonesia, which has promising economic prospects up to the next five to six years, during which Trans Kalla would have already reached the breaking-even point.

Chairul Tanjung, a Para Group commissioner, said the feasibility study and survey apparently showed further growth, so they decided to extend the area from 2.4 hectares to 3 hectares.

The target for visitors has also been increased from 1.6 million to 2 million during the first year.

"We are optimistic we could reach the target of 2 million visitors in the first year," he said.

Trans Kalla external communications director Eka Firman Hermawan said the theme park, which adhered to a concept of a recreational park with educational contents, employs 1,000 creative and skilled workers.

The South Sulawesi provincial administration and the Makassar municipality expects the theme park would be able to stimulate economic growth, especially in Makassar.

"Economic growth in South Sulawesi has further rose in recent years, even reaching 9 percent this year, which surpassed the national average of 7 percent," said South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo during a visit to the park last week alongside Makassar Mayor Ilham Arif Siradjuddin.

"We hope the presence of Trans Studio will spur economic growth in the province."

Trans Studio will become an integrated recreational facility later and equipped with the Trans Studio Walk shopping mall, which will be operated by mid next year.

Three- and five-star hotels will also be built, including residences, coastal recreation and a Bank Mega office, a subsidiary of Para Group.

The mega project is expected to cost around Rp 3 trillion (US$300 million).

The Trans Studio Theme Park alone costs more than Rp 1 trillion.

The Trans Studio Theme Park is located at the Losari beach in Tanjung Bunga, Makassar.