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Jakarta competitive among world cities
Governor Joko âJokowiâ Widodo welcomed a recent achievement clinched by Jakarta, which has been rated first in a global ranking of emerging cities
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overnor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo welcomed a recent achievement clinched by Jakarta, which has been rated first in a global ranking of emerging cities.
Global consultant A.T. Kearney released its 2014 edition of the Global Cities Index, which also includes the Emerging Cities Outlook 2014, a forward-looking measurement of emerging cities with the potential to improve their global standing in the next few decades. Jakarta ranked first among 35 cities, followed by the Philippines' Manila and Ethiopia's Addis Ababa.
'We responded positively to this result. We can use this as a basis for an evaluation ' what needs improvement and what has been done correctly,' Jokowi told reporters at City Hall on Tuesday.
Jokowi pointed out that the result could be seen as an acknowledgement of the city administration's efforts to improve the capital.
'They assessed several things, including transportation development. We have just started the construction of the MRT [mass rapid transit] and of new water reservoirs, as well as starting the dredging project. Other measures are the healthcare and education allowances that the city provided,' he said, adding that the capital was ready to compete with other cities.
'This is a great surprise. This is a positive sign that Jakarta is very much on the move,' said John Kurtz, A.T. Kearney's Asia Pacific head and Indonesia president director.
Kurtz revealed several of the factors that were measured during the assessment.
'It's a measure of a number of factors from three main themes. [First is] business activity, which includes the amount of international conferences and global boards of management that are interested in Jakarta as well as Indonesian businesses and the ease of doing business. [Second], it's the human capital, which includes demographic advantages that Jakarta has, with so many millions of young people coming into their prime. Third is innovation,' Kurtz explained.
'The study now confirms what so many Jakarta residents know: the city has its share of challenges but has become truly global in a variety of ways and is now attracting talent from both the Indonesian and global business and cultural communities. It is very clear that Jakarta is on the rise,' he added.
Kurtz pointed out, however, that Jakarta is still facing numerous challenges that require urgent action.
'Jakarta still has the issues of healthcare and education gaps and it still has to address substantial gaps in infrastructure in the poorest and other areas,' he said.
The Global Cities Index, conducted biennially since 2008, provides a measure of global engagement for 84 cities from every continent, assessing them across 26 metrics in five dimensions, namely business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement. This gives a holistic view of what differentiates cities in terms of generating and retaining global capital, people and ideas.
As with previous editions of the Global Cities Index, New York, London, Paris and Tokyo lead the ranking. Among the top 20 cities, seven are in the Asia-Pacific region (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Seoul, Sydney and Shanghai), seven are in Europe (London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Vienna, Moscow and Berlin) and six are in the Americas (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, Toronto and Buenos Aires).
