Council all ears to idea for new Cipasera

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

In response to the residents of six districts in Tangerang, who floated the idea of forming a new municipality, the Tangerang Council plans to look into the possibility.

The council scheduled a seminar for next week to be held jointly with residents grouped in the Coordinating Body for the Establishment of an Independent Cipasera (Bakor Cipasera).

"The seminar will be a forum for all parties, including those who oppose the idea, to share their views on the matter," Daka Udin, deputy chairman of the council's commission A on administration affairs, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

The council will also invite Banten governor Djoko Munandar, other provincial administration officials and the director general of regional autonomy at the Ministry of Home Affairs to attend the seminar.

"Any conclusions made during the seminar will form the guidelines for the council's special committee whose tasks will be to prepare the establishment of Cipasera," Daka added.

Although the idea first emerged in 1992, it was a recent proposal by the residents that has prompted the current council study the issue.

The name, Cipasera, is an abbreviated combination of the names of the four districts: Ciputat, Pamulang, Serpong and Pondok Aren. In 2000, residents of the newly established Cisauk and Pegedangan districts said they also wanted to become part of Cipasera, which would have a total population of 1.1 million.

Councillor Tri Satria Santoso of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said he and at least 16 other councillors representing the six districts would agree with the move.

"It is high time for the area to manage itself ... Cipasera contributes 40 percent of the regency's Rp 369 billion (US$41 million) in revenue but only a small part of that comes back for to the development of the area," he told the Post.

Hidayat Suhali, secretary general of Bakor Cipasera, referred to a feasibility study made in 1999, showing that the four districts alone at that time could generate almost twice the money as Depok municipality.

The study corroborated the latest one performed by a team of experts from Cipasera, which showed the feasibility of merging the six districts into a new municipality. It also mentioned that one of the major things it was lacking was a five-star hotel.

It showed that the area had a total population of about 1.1 million, or 30 percent of Tangerang regency's total population. Included in that population are 17 of 45 regency councillors, 11 of 75 Banten provincial councillors and eight members of the House of Representatives.

Moreover, 27 percent of Cipasera's area is made up of business districts and industrial zones.

"We hope the municipality can be formed in 2006," said Bakor Cipasera chairman Margiono, who is also the director of Jakarta's Rakyat Merdeka daily.