Ten cities in Indonesia including Jakarta, Denpasar and Medan are part of a pilot project to be turned into environment-friendly green cities.
JAKARTA- Ten cities in Indonesia have been designated as pilot projects for a National Green City scheme, an official explained in an interview with Indonesia’s newspaper “The Jakarta Post”.
The cities participating in the project are Bandung, West Java; Denpasar, Bali; Indonesia’s capital Jakarta; Makassar, South Sulawesi; Medan, North Sumatra; Palembang, South Sumatra; Semarang, Central Java; Surabaya, East Java; Tangerang, Banten; and the Special Administrative Region of Yogyakarta.
The green city pilot project was launched by the Agriculture Ministry to create better living conditions in urban areas as Indonesia continues to experience a very rapid process of urbanisation. The population residing in urban areas is estimated to increase from 54 per cent in 2010 to 68 per cent in 2025.
Cities that were expected to create wealth as engines of growth have actually given birth to new pockets of poverty with slum areas increasing at a rapid pace as more upcountry workers move to find a job in urban areas. Urban slums in Indonesia increased from 54,000 hectares in 2004 to 57,800 hectares in 2009.
The project will help to make cities more liveable not only for their residents but also visitors. Urban green areas are important to the improvement of living conditions. According to international declarations on urban landscapes, a city should dedicate 20 % of public areas to green space with an additional 10% reserved for private green space. In Indonesia, green areas declined from about 35 % to less than 10 % from 1970-2010 in big cities. Makassar’s green space amounts to 10 % of the city; Jakarta has 9.79 %; Surabaya stands at 9%, Bandung at 8.76 %, Medan at 8% and Palembang at 5%.
Green City project also encourages local administrations and residents to cooperate to reduce pollution by creating open and green spaces, planting the trees and cleaning up city areas. In each participating city, local governments will create public parks in hospitals, airports, schools, office buildings and entertainment centres. To implement the project, the ministry provided each city with Rp 80 million (US$8,359).
Photo: Jakarta Green City by Alrizki Marino
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
