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Economic zone expected to boost halal tourism in NTB
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Gearing up -- State Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno, State-owned tourism company PT Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) president director Abdulbar M. Mansoer and West Nusa Tenggara administration officials attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Mandalika Grand Mosque in Central Lombok on Saturday. (JP/Panca Nugraha)
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tate-owned tourism company PT Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) president director Abdulbar M.Mansoer said the development of the Mandalika special economic zone (KEK), including its grand mosque, in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), would hopefully boost tourism in the province.
“For the Mandalika tourism area, this mosque is really strategic to support the halal tourism destination concept along with the NTB administration’s tourism program,” he said on the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony for the development of Mandalika Grand Mosque inside the KEK Mandalika complex on Saturday.
Abdulbar said the Mandalika Grand Mosque would cost an estimated Rp 28 billion (US$2.11 million) to build. The mosque would adopt the building model of the old Bayan Beleq mosque in North Lombok and have an environmentally friendly building concept, with a total visitor capacity of 2,000.
“This is part of our role to help preserve the culture and historic heritage of the Lombok people,” he said about the mosque, which is to be built on a five-hectare plot of land.
In 2015, the Mandalika special economic zone currently being built by ITDC on 1,175 hectares received Rp 250 billion from the government to start the development of basic infrastructure facilities inside the area.
Abdulbar said ITDC was currently developing a 11-kilometer road for access, a clean water treatment facility using seawater reverse osmosis technology to fulfill the water needs of Mandalika hotels in the future.
“We are also preparing 60 hectares of land for the development of a solar-powered electricity plant [PLTS],” he said, adding that PLTS Mandalika would hopefully start operating in 2017.(ebf)
