Govt to adopt new development approach
Govt to adopt new development approach
JAKARTA (JP): The government will introduce a new approach to economic development by promoting zones with high potential for investments, a minister said yesterday.
"We will apply a new concept by setting up 111 investment promotion zones in the country, instead of developing areas on the periphery of towns," State Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita said in a hearing with members of the House of Representatives yesterday.
Ginandjar, who is also chairman of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), said the new approach will account for the human and natural resource potencies in the planned zones.
"The new concept will synchronize business activities with local spatial planning," he said.
He said that the government will soon announce the 111 zones and their individual business focuses.
"Some of the zones, for example, will be good for investments in tourism, others for agriculture or manufacturing," he said.
"The proposed zones will be supported with appropriate infrastructure facilities, such as irrigation networks for agriculture or electricity for industrial activities," Ginandjar said.
Meanwhile, a deputy chairman of Bappenas, Herman Haeruman, said the government will propose that Jambi, a province in Sumatra, be included in the subregional economic cooperation area involving Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
"After a discussion with Coordinating Minister of Production and Distribution Hartarto, such a proposal will be submitted in the coming senior official meeting of the three countries," he said.
The subregional cooperation area, called the Indonesia- Malaysia-Singapore Growth Triangle (IMS-GT), currently involves West Sumatra and Riau, the Negeri Sembilan, Johor Bahru and Pahang states in Malaysia and Singapore.
Riau, covering 94,561-square-kilometers, has a population density of 41.5 people per square kilometer. Jambi, covering 44,800 square-kilometers, has a population density of 53.2 people per square kilometer. (icn)