Bima Arya Urges Sound Spatial Planning to Unlock Kepri's Potential

Deputy Home Affairs Minister (Wamendagri) Bima Arya Sugiarto has stated that sound spatial planning is the key to developing the various potentials of the Riau Islands (Kepri) province, including its economic potential. He noted that planned and strongly coordinated spatial management would support optimal and sustainable development while mitigating potential land conflicts. Bima Arya made the remarks during a specific working visit of the House of Representatives’ Commission II regarding the governor’s role as the central government’s representative (GWPP) in implementing national priority programmes, as well as land and spatial planning sectors, at Graha Kepri, Batam. “We must ensure the spatial planning can be controlled, and we work on it together to become a source of regional income,” Bima Arya said. He explained that Kepri is a province consisting mostly of waters, with only a small portion of land. Despite this, Kepri has significant potential in various sectors, including manufacturing, trade, maritime, natural resources, and history-based tourism. According to him, the main challenge is ensuring that the utilisation of limited land space can be carried out optimally. Bima Arya detailed four challenges that require the attention of regional governments in Kepri: environmental degradation, vulnerability to disasters, spatial planning conflicts, and high population inflow, particularly in Batam. Therefore, the Ministry of Home Affairs together with the House of Representatives’ Commission II will ensure that regional regulations are aligned with Kepri’s potential and challenges. “We are scrutinising this closely. Because of that, the Ministry of Home Affairs, in this case with the Chair of Commission II, is ensuring that all regional regulations related to APBD planning take these potential and challenge factors into account. We will also ensure that existing regulations are synchronised,” he said. He added that besides having great economic potential, Kepri also possesses historical and cultural value that sets it apart from other regions. Kepri, particularly Penyengat Island, is an important centre of Malay culture and the birthplace of Raja Ali Haji, the figure who compiled the guidelines for the Indonesian language and authored Gurindam Dua Belas. He therefore appreciated the Kepri provincial government’s plan to build a language museum on Penyengat Island as an effort to strengthen historical tourism appeal. “This area has been the centre of the Riau Kingdom’s government since 1800. So it has a long history, as a centre of Malay culture, with Raja Ali Haji and so on. Because of this, I feel the Ministry of Home Affairs together with the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning and the Ministry of Tourism will jointly support this,” he stated. In addition to historical tourism, Bima Arya also encouraged Kepri to develop the growing sector of sport tourism. He believes that Batam and other areas in Kepri have great potential to host various national and international sporting events, which could increase tourist visits and boost locally-generated revenue (PAD). “I am confident that Batam and Kepri can excel in sport tourism, with triathlons and marathon stars. It will be extraordinary,” he concluded.