Depok: City with diverse, high population growth<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto\/Remmy Faisal
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Before its status was upgraded to an administrative city in 1982,
\nDepok was only a small, quiet district of Bogor regency, West
\nJava, with a population of less than 300,000 people.<\/p>\n
Now, however, Depok has developed into a bustling municipality
\nwith a total population reaching 1.2 million people. In fact,
\nDepok proper has turned into a crowded town, with traffic
\ncongestion now a common sight.<\/p>\n
"Traffic congestion is really annoying. Our relatives in
\nJakarta often complain about difficulties to reach here due to
\ntraffic problems," Martha, a resident of Beji district, told The
\nJakarta Post recently.<\/p>\n
Traffic jams are mainly the result of poor infrastructure, but
\nthat is just one of many problems in the municipality, located
\njust south of Jakarta. On June 26, the Depok municipality will
\nhold it first direct election for mayor.<\/p>\n
Bumper to bumper, vehicles creep along roads into the capital
\nin the morning and late afternoon as at least a third of
\npopulation works in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
According to former Depok Mayor Badrul Kamal, who is also
\nrunning in the upcoming election, around 400,000 of the
\nmunicipality's residents work in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Back in the 1970s, the government developed what was called a
\npilot project for national housing in Depok. Soon afterward,
\nhowever, private developers built more housing complexes there
\nand that contributed a lot to the rapid growth.<\/p>\n
According to data from the Depok municipal administration,
\nhouses cover some 30 percent of Depok municipality's territory of
\n20,504 hectares.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the ratio between undeveloped and developed land is
\n55 to 45. Apart from housing, developed land is also used for
\noffices, markets, factories and other commercial facilities.<\/p>\n
The municipality is also home to one of the country's leading
\nuniversities -- the University of Indonesia (UI). Other
\nuniversities in Depok are Gunadarma University on Jl. Margonda
\nRaya, and the University of Pembangunan Nasional (UPN) on Jl.
\nPondok Labu. Nearly 5,000 students from all over the country
\nstudy at those three universities.<\/p>\n
In trying to fulfill the daily necessities of the bulging
\npopulation, new commercial zones are being planned and\/or are
\nbeing developed. Currently, there are 11 shopping centers, six
\ntraditional markets, and 2,102 shops in the municipality.<\/p>\n
Depok consists of six districts -- Cimanggis, Sawangan, Limo,
\nSukamajaya, Pancoran and Beji.<\/p>\n
Various ethnic groups have lived in Depok since the Dutch
\ncolonial era as workers from several regions of the country had
\nbeen based near the many former plantations in the area.<\/p>\n
The diverse ethnic population of Depok, which was established
\nas a municipality in 1999, continues as new comers occupy many
\nhousing complexes and students from various regions flock to
\nDepok every year.<\/p>\n
The excessive development in Depok has often been blamed for
\nworsening annual floods in the capital. Many green zones have
\nbeen paved over for roads, houses and malls.<\/p>\n
The master plan of Depok regulates that 50 percent of its land
\nmust be maintained as a green zone.<\/p>\n
Its neighboring regions -- Bekasi and Tangerang municipalities
\nrespectively -- call for maintaining 40 percent and 30 percent of
\ntheir land as green zones. Meanwhile, green zones in Jakarta are
\nbetween 6 percent and 9 percent of its territory.<\/p>",
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