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View all search resultsRI to build 10 new cities
National Development Planning Minister Andrinof A
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N
ational Development Planning Minister Andrinof A. Chaniago said President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo planned to begin the development of 10 new cities, with Tanjung Selor in North Kalimantan the first new city to be built.
'There will be 10 new cities. We will begin their development in the current administration's term,' he said as quoted by Antara news agency in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Andrinof said the government had completed a study to change the administrative status of Tanjung Selor from a district to the capital city of North Kalimantan, Indonesia's youngest province, which borders Malaysia.
With an area of 1,277 square kilometers, Tanjung Selor has a population of around 42,000.
Andrinof said the government had allocated funds for the new cities' development in the revised 2015 state budget.
He refused to give details on the locations of the nine other cities and development budgets allocated, except for saying there would be several other areas of Kalimantan that would become new cities.
'Several areas are still being examined but cannot yet be revealed now as they could become the target of brokerage activities,' said Andrinof.
Conceptually, the minister said, the development of new cities would be prioritized outside the island of Java. This was part of the government's efforts to push for a more balanced distribution of economic growth and to achieve prosperity targets such as poverty and unemployment reduction.
One of the primary targets of President Jokowi is to create new economic growth hubs outside Java.
According to official data, economic contributions from Java have always dominated the country's gross domestic product (GDP). In 2013, Java's contribution to national GDP stood at 58 percent, followed by Sumatra (23.8 percent), Kalimantan (9.6 percent), Sulawesi (4.8 percent), Maluku-Papua (2.2 percent) and Bali-Nusa Tenggara (2.8 percent).
The government is also aiming to improve the balanced distribution of economic advantages in regions across Indonesia in 2015. This can be measured from the Gini coefficient ratio, or the economic gap level, which is expected to decline to 0.4, while poverty and unemployment figures are expected to reduce to 10.3 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.
'This is one of our missions for a more balanced economic growth distribution,' said Andrinof. (dyl/ebf)(+++)
