Pram encourages development of Thousand Islands as Jakarta's future

Jakarta (ANTARA) - DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung Wibowo is encouraging the development of the Thousand Islands area due to its significant potential to become the new future of the capital, particularly in driving economic growth. “I always say that one of Jakarta’s futures that must be managed and cared for well is the Thousand Islands. It will become Jakarta’s future,” Pram said at City Hall on Thursday. According to the man often called Pram, Jakarta’s development has so far been centred on the mainland. He assessed that the potential of the Thousand Islands is not yet being maximised. However, he said, the Thousand Islands have great opportunities for development, especially in the tourism and economic sectors. Therefore, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is promoting the organisation and development of the area to make it more attractive and competitive. One of the steps taken is rebranding or building a new image for the area to make it more widely known. “If prepared from now, Jakarta, hopefully, will become better,” Pramono stated. Furthermore, he asked each region in Jakarta to have its own development focus, for example, Central Jakarta as the government centre, South Jakarta as the new economic centre, and the Thousand Islands as a flagship area based on regional potential. Pramono emphasised that all regional development plans, including the development of the Thousand Islands, must remain in line with the direction of central government policies. Local government, he continued, cannot operate independently without alignment with the national vision. “The regional vision must actually be in harmony with the central vision. There should be no case where the central vision is A and the regional vision is Z; that would be utter nonsense. It means not understanding governance,” Pramono remarked.