Jakarta,
May 29, 2017 (Antara) - Indonesia has targeted the development of livable,
safe, and comfortable cities in 2025, enabling the development of green
cities in 2035 and the establishment of competitive and technology-based
smart cities in 2045.
Smart city is a concept of city
development, with information technology applications used to manage
natural as well as human resources efficiently and effectively.
For
that purpose, the government has encouraged the implementation of the
smart city concept in an effort to improve its regional competitiveness
as well as social and economic indicators.
"Smart
City has been implemented globally. In Indonesia, it has been running
but still in its early stages; for instance, Surabaya has established
information technology for e-governance and services," Coordinating
Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said at a seminar on Smart
City Smart Region recently.
According to the minister, smart city development would have a positive
impact on the workforce, electrification, and logistic sector.
Smart city could also increase labor efficiency by simplifying the
working process, creating competition that will improve their quality,
and generating more new jobs.
However, he admitted that Indonesia has faced challenges in developing a
smart city, such as digital imbalance, lack of supporting
infrastructure, as well as human resources to run information technology
in smart city.
Therefore, the government has issued some economic policy packages to support smart city implementation.
Several
ministries and government institutions have been actively developing an
information technology system as its contribution towards the concept.
"For
instance, the Indonesian Police has the online-based Traffic Management
Center and the Agriculture Minister with its online Toko Tani," Darmin
stated.
To support the smart city program, Communications and Informatics
Minister Rudiantara said all municipal cities in Indonesia will be
connected with high-speed internet systems in 2019 with the provision of
government facility in the program of "Information Toll."
"The
target is that by 2019, all 500 capital cities of district areas would
be connected with high-speed Internet service," Rudiantara remarked here
on Saturday.
Currently,
the speed is not the same. Some cities have no Internet connection yet,
the minister noted after speaking at a graduation ceremony at the
Malang Muhammadiyah University here.
"Here
in Java, the speed is between 3 MB and 4 MB per second, but in Papua,
the speed is only 300 KB or one tenth of Java, not to mention the high
tariff. That is not fair," he revealed.
Therefore,
the government has taken the initiative to create an "information toll"
with equal high-speed Internet system all over the country, he pointed
out.
The
Palapa Ring project of state telecommunication provider PT Telkom is an
infrastructure prepared to back up the information toll project using
optic fiber all over Indonesia.
He
stated that the project consists of seven small circles of optic fiber
for Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara, Papua, Sulawesi, and
Maluku) and one backhaul or system to provide whole connections.
Palapa
Ring is a national optic fiber network project to cover the country's
34 provinces and 440 cities/regencies all over the country.
"When the Palapa Ring has been fully operational in 2019, all areas in
Indonesia, from Sabang to Merauke and from Miangas to Rote, would have
high-speed internet access and we would not be inferior to countries
already advanced in Internet infrastructure like Singapore," Rudiantara
asserted.
Meanwhile, telecommunication developer PT Palapa Timur Telematika said
it will start the construction of a broadband network in the eastern
part of the country under the Palapa Ring project in July.
The firm, which is a consortium of Moratelindo, IBS and Smart Telecom,
signed in September an agreement with the government under which the
consortium is committed to building 8,454 kilometers of cables through
East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, West Papua and Papua.
The developer will have 18 months to carry out construction after the
deal was made. Five banks -- state-owned lender Bank Negara Indonesia
(BNI), private lender ICBC Indonesia, government-owned banks Bank Papua,
Bank Maluku Malut and Bank Sulselbar, will disburse a syndicated loan
totaling Rp 4 trillion (US$300 million) out of overall construction
costs of Rp 5.13 trillion for the eastern network.
The Rp14 trillion Palapa Ring project comprises three sections - the
west, central and east - that will span around 13,000 km. It aims to
expand domestic broadband service nationwide, particularly in frontier,
outermost and remote regions, a report said.
In fact, for
eastern Indonesian region, the Communications and Informatics Ministry
has picked Mimika of Papua, to be included among 25 districts to build a
smart city in 2017.
For
that purpose, the ministry has invited the Mimika district
administration to sign on May 25, 2017, a memorandum of understanding to
launch the smart city program.
The ministry will give technical guidelines for that project and the
district administration will be responsible for providing supporting
infrastructure.
In
addition to Mimika, Samarinda City, East Kalimantan Province, central
Indonesian region, has also been selected to be part of the "Towards 100
Smart City Indonesia Movement" under which the cities will provide
digital-based public services.
The movement is being initiated in 25 districts and cities as a pilot
project that will gradually provide digital-based public services.
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(f001/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.F001/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 29-05-2017
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