Surabaya City Government Ambitious Project: Prepare THR-TRS To Become An International Concert Location

People's Entertainment Park (THR), on Jalan Kusuma Bangsa, Surabaya, East Java. BETWEEN/HO-Diskominfo Surabaya

JAKARTA - The Surabaya City Government (Pemkot) has prepared an alternative revitalization scheme for the People's Entertainment Park (THR) and Surabaya Youth Park (TRS) areas, on Jalan Kusuma Bangsa, to be the location for international concerts.

Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi said the construction of the world-class concert venue was in line with the existence of several investors who were ready to invest. "There is no concert venue in Surabaya, many investors have applied for concert venues," Eri said in his statement, Friday, April 12.

The offer is deemed appropriate, considering that the city does not yet have a special location for holding concerts with international standards. "If it has brought in international artists, it requires a capacity of how many tens of thousands and today in Surabaya, nothing is sufficient," he said. Currently, there are five investors who have volunteered to invest in THR-TRS land. "Not only old investors who submit, but there are four investors who enter, all of whose concepts are for concert venues," he said. However, the current international scale concert venue construction scheme is still in the discussion stage with experts and related policy makers. Eri explained that when referring to the initial scheme, THR and TRS were revived as playgrounds, as usual.

However, there is a discrepancy with the wishes of investors regarding the amount of ticket prices. As a result, the plan to revitalize the playground has changed. He said this was natural, because investors had to calculate the investment value, not just the amount of land rental value. Eri stated that the desire regarding the ticket price of the playground could reach all circles or in the sense that the entrance fee for visitors was cheap. The calculation is in the range of Rp. 25 thousand per person.

"If the THR-TRS rental price is expensive, but it does not consider an entrance ticket of Rp. 25,000, investors can do it, but after calculating it, what was proposed was when rides such as games were made, it was still reduced," he continued. It is hoped that this concert venue can become one of the entertainment tourist destinations that is attractive to local and foreign tourists, so as to improve the economy of the local community.