“In three years [Meikarta will be populated by residents and tenants],” Lippo Group information and communication director Danang Kemayan Jati told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The 500 hectares of planned city is set to have 200 towers for residents and businesses, with a projected 1 million residents to live in 250,000 apartment units. Lippo said 150,000 residential units had been sold to customers.

“This year we are targeting the sales of 80,000 units,” Lippo Group CEO James Riady said on Tuesday as reported by Kontan. The company’s target last year was 140,000 units.

Meikarta residents were also slated to benefit from government infrastructure projects currently being built around the area, such as Kerjati International Airport in Majalengka, the Patimban deep-sea port in Subang and elevated toll roads in Cikampek. All of the projects are located in West Java and are set to be fully operational by 2019.

Meikarta is also located near Greater Jakarta’s light rapid transit (LRT) system, a transportation network that will connect Jakarta, Bekasi and Cikarang. It is also located halfway from the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project.

The company has allocated Rp 268 trillion for the building of the city. Lippo Group also plans for the township to become a healthcare, education, research, as well as business center.

The company signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with 10 institutions on Wednesday in a bid to set up an education, health and technology research center in the township, with an estimated US$550 million of investment value.

Columbia University Medical Center, University College London (UCL), the University of North Carolina and Genesis Rehab Services, whose representatives signed the MoUs on Wednesday, are expected to give assistance on healthcare facilities in Meikarta.

James Riady said he expected Columbia University’s Department of Surgery to help Lippo design a cardiac health center in Meikarta.

“One of the visions [of Lippo] is to build a dedicated rehab hospital [in Meikarta], and we are helping to establish the construction standards and design of the facility, knowledge transfer, as well as training and developing of the staff,” Genesis Rehab Services vice president of international operations Neil D. Tockman said on Wednesday.

University College London Cancer Network chairman Gary Royle said Indonesia, with its large population, needed cancer care and research.

“We think we can help improve cancer care and bring state-of-the-art cancer research to this country,” Gary said, referring to the MoU the university signed with Lippo Group.

He added it was too early to say what kind of collaboration UCL would bring to Meikarta, and it was still up for discussion.

University of North Carolina executive director of Go Global NC Rick Van Sant said Meikarta’s planned city ecosystem, which would bring together residential units and facilities, piqued the interest of the university to take part in the township project.

He said the university had 16 campuses in the United States, “so we can pick and choose the best program from all those campuses [that best suits what Indonesia needs]”, he said.

He added the university and Lippo were still discussing which of the programs the university offered would be developed and made available at the planned city.

On Tuesday, Lippo Group also signed MoUs with nine logistics and financial technology companies, with an estimated $300 million worth of investments. (ami)

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