Government Focuses On Developing 50 Cities Until 2029

JAKARTA - The government will focus on developing 50 cities during 2025-2029. These cities are designed to balance economic growth to be more equitable throughout Indonesia.

Minister of Public Works (PU) Dody Hanggodo said the move was in line with President Prabowo Subianto's vision to realize equitable development in 2045, in order to achieve people's sovereignty, justice and prosperity.

"We designed 50 cities and priority districts with a vision to balance growth between Java and other regions. One nation, many centers; one vision, many voices," said Dody in his remarks at the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum (IISF) 2025 at the Jakarta Convention Center, Friday, October 10.

Based on Dody's explanation, the development of 50 priority cities consists of 10 metropolitan areas, 4 proposals for metropolitan areas, 36 non-metropolitan priority cities, and 4 small cities with special character.

For example, in the ranks of the metropolitan area there are Medan, Palembang, Jakarta, Bandung to Semarang. Meanwhile, four other proposals for the metropolitan area include Pekanbaru, Yogyakarta, Surakarta and Malang.

In addition, the government is also developing a number of thematic cities, such as industrial cities, tourist cities, trading cities, education cities to small cities with special character.

For example, Tana Toraja Regency (Makale), Central Maluku Regency (Banda Neira), Morotai Island Regency (Daruba) and Arfak Mountains Regency (Anggi).

Dody said that cities in Indonesia contributed around 45.5 percent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, rapid growth also brings various pressures to the community.

"Tarif is also increasing, settlements are decreasing, mobility is slowing down. We can't just build a lot of roads, we have to build more of the future," said Dody.

A number of challenges still overshadow various regions, such as floods in Semarang, drought in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), and floods in Bali.

"This condition shows the importance of realizing sustainable infrastructure development that brings benefits to the community," explained Dody.