"Jokowi has developed all of Indonesias frontier areas to accelerate growth in Southeast Asias biggest economy," Deputy IV of Office of the Presidential Staff Eko Sulistyo said here on Thursday.
He stated that the president will continue to develop border areas, outermost areas, and outskirt areas in an effort to boost local economy.
"This is an important change," he affirmed.
The government has invested Rp7.6 trillion (US$371 million) to develop infrastructure and housing in Papua and West Papua, including roads to improve access to isolated areas.
The projects, which are stipulated in Presidential Regulation No. 3/2016 on national strategic projects, include the development of a trans-Papua road, road construction in areas near the border with Papua New Guinea, and other projects in Skouw, Jayapura.
The development of Papua is aimed at opening isolated areas at lower prices.
The projects are part of the governments efforts to reduce the socio-economic disparity between western and eastern parts of the country.
"The president has monitored the projects in Papua and supervised the construction of the Trans-Papua highway in Jayawijaya district. He has travelled 7 kilometers between Wamena - Mamugu 1 route," he remarked.
In addition to Papua, the president frequently visited other border areas to develop economy in remote areas.
"Indonesians living on the border areas want to become Malaysian citizens in an attempt to have access to adequate education and social facilities," he noted.
Therefore, the president called for development of the border areas to create economic centers. Development in border areas must create a positive effect on the people, especially local people.
The development of infrastructure and transportation to boost inter-regional connectivity will remain the government's priority in 2017, Jokowi earlier said.
" I would like to stress, once again, that the development of infrastructure and transportation to ensure connectivity between areas, islands, and especially rural regions will remain the governments priority," he stated.
It will facilitate balanced development and growth and, thereby narrowing inequality between cities and villages in Indonesia, the president believed.
"I want to emphasize that building connectivity does not solely mean developing transportation infrastructure, but it is also related to logistic systems and multi-means distribution," he remarked.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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