The Ministry for Development of Disadvantaged Regions is working together with the Geospatial Information Agency (formerly known as BAKOSURTANAL) to support the development of several key sectors and industries in some of the country’s most disadvantaged areas.

The initiative stemmed from the national government’s master plan for the acceleration and expansion of economic development throughout the entire Indonesian Territory.

According to the Geospatial Information Agency the project aims to ensure that no city or district in Indonesia gets left behind in economic development. The agency will be providing its expertise to promote the use of geospatial information to pump prime sectors such as agriculture, mining, energy, marine, tourism and telecommunications.

“The agency identified 183 districts as the key beneficiaries of the project,” the agency said.

These disadvantaged areas are generally characterised by the low quality of human resources, poor ICT infrastructure and other similar situations in transportation, water supply, irrigation, health, education and other services. Because of these problems, the citizens living in these areas are finding it difficult to climb up the economic ladder.

Leveraging GIS is a key part of the project. By studying the geographic relationships of resources essential for socio-economic development, it would be easier for policy makers to arrive at well-informed decisions that can help them achieve a true “synergistic” development in the country.

As part of the partnership, the Geospatial Information Agency will provide GIS-based decision support systems to help local authorities in their spatial planning and policy making.

Furthermore, capacity building and technical guidance on how local government offices can leverage the Ina-Geoportal will also be provided.