No more villages in Pekanbaru

PEKANBARU, Riau: As of Saturday, there are officially no more villages here because they have been promoted to subdistricts, Antara reported.

Pekanbaru Mayor Oesman Effendi Apan said the promotion of the eight villages has put fast-developing Pekanbaru on the same level with two other Sumatra cities, Medan and Padang.

He boasted that Pekanbaru is becoming a modern city with its progress in the educational field as seen by its increasingly intelligent and critical citizens.

With the promotion of the eight villages, there are currently 48 subdistricts in this mayoralty populated by 500,000 people. (aan)