Indonesia to Build Ten New Cities on Outer Islands

Jakarta Globe, Mar 24, 2015

Development Planning Minister Andrinof Chaniago, left, wants to develop new
urban areas across Indonesia to deal with poverty and unemployment. (Antara
Foto/Vitalis Yogi Trisna)

Jakarta. The government intends to build ten new cities in remote parts of Indonesia, Andrinof Chaniago, head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), announced on Tuesday.

The first new city will be Tanjung Selor in North Kalimantan, the new province founded in 2012 on land that used to be part of East Kalimantan province. Tanjung Selor is the capital of North Kalimantan, but currently only has 42,000 inhabitants. The administration of President Joko Widodo now wants to turn the town into a true city.

“We will start the [development of] ten cities during the term of this administration,” Andrinof said on Tuesday, as quoted by state-owned news agency Antara.

The Bappenas head explained that the purpose of  developing new urban areas throughout Indonesia was to boost equitable economic growth in the regions outside Java to decrease poverty and unemployment.

Andrinof declined to provide additional details about the plan.