Jakarta destination

Jakarta Capital City government is ready to make significant development in Kepulauan Seribu Regency, in order to promote tourism potentials in the area.

That’s what Jakarta Capital City Governor Fauzi Bowo said in his speech during a workshop themed acceleration of tourism development in Kepulauan Seribu, at a hotel in Central Jakarta, Tuesday (1/19).

The governor said there were still many things that had to be improved to make Kepulauan Seribu a leading tourist destination. In the formulation of pre-workshop, there were at least ten points of problems must be addressed, among them were accessibility and electricity network.

Concerning the electricity problem, Fauzi Bowo said his administration had set a target for the regency to use no more electricity generators in 2012, meaning electricity network would be available by that year.

While for the accessibility, the government is now building a special port in Muara Angke area, which is designated to visitors of Kepulauan Seribu. The construction is expected to be completed at the end of this year. “The commitment of Pulau Seribu development is one more step ahead, than just paying attention. A lot of things still have to be done, and the ten points of pre-workshop formulation can become the reference,” said Fauzi Bowo, Tuesday (1/19).

Kepulauan Seribu, as Fauzi Bowo noted, had a great potential to attract both domestic and foreign tourists to come to the area, should it be well managed. For domestic tourists, the targets are those hailing from Jakarta and West Java. “Geographically, Pulau Seribu is an area having a great potential to become a tourist destination. I am optimistic about that,” he said.

However, the governor underlined the importance of the synchronization between Kepuluan Seribu regency and National Maritime Park to avoid overlapping of interests and licensings; the population capacity of the regency; as well as the cleanliness.

Kepulauan Seribu Regent Burhanuddin explained that the cleanliness problem currently faced by his area was the absence of cleanliness agency. “The agency will be replaced with a cleanliness technical unit (UPT),” he said.

Burhanuddin said he was quite in favor with the pre-workshop formulation, since all the points included were fully directed to development in Kepulauan Seribu.

In the meantime, Head of Jakarta Capital City Department of Tourism and Culture, Ari Budhiman said the number of tourists in Kepulauan Seribu was still very low. He also revealed that there were currently only six tourist resorts remaining, after previously eleven resorts operated in the regency.