Bogor to develop a cyberpark

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

The Bogor municipal administration is planning to develop a cyberpark on a nine-hectare plot of land in a bid to help government agencies, organizations and private companies develop their online systems.

Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto said at a recent seminar that his administration would cooperate with a Shenzen cyberpark company in China to develop and manage the project.

He said the cooperation would cover information exchange, human resources development, software development and market development of information technology products.

According to Diani, the cooperation with the Shenzen company was a follow-up to his visit to the Chinese city in March.

Deputy head of the information technology division at the Ministry of Communications and Information Cahyana Ahmadijaya said on the same occasion that the development of a cyberpark in Bogor was an appropriate step to turning the municipality into a service city.

"Information technology is a basic requirement for a service city," said Cahyana.

He said a cyberpark would grow well if it was supported by research centers and universities to develop it and industries that would use its products for developing their online systems.

Head of the Bogor Municipal culture and tourism agency Yamin M. Saleh, meanwhile, said the cyberpark would be developed in Mulyaharja subdistrict, South Bogor.

The project will be financed with a grant from the Chinese government, said Yamin, who did not reveal the value of the project or when construction of the cyberpark would start.

He said the cyberpark would become the Internet provider for the central government and the regional administrations in a bid to develop an e-government.

"We hope Bogor will become a center of IT service for officers of central and regional administrations across the country," said Yamin.