Makassar is the fifth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Medan. It is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi and the largest city of Sulawesi Island in terms of population. Through an email interview with Mayor Pomanto, OpenGov learnt about the ongoing developments at the City of Makassar. Mayor Pomanto has been the Mayor of Makassar since 2014 and was invited to the OpenGov Indonesia Leadership Forum on March 22 2017 to receive the inaugural Recognition of Excellence Award for his efforts in transforming Makassar to a smart and modern City.
Could you tell us more about your role as the Mayor of Makassar?
My role as Mayor is to fulfill my vision and mission to make Makassar a world-class city which is convenient for all. The goals are:
· To work with citizens toward creating a prosperous world class community
· To improve spatial plans and make Makssar a comfortable city
· To reform governance into world class and corruption free public services
What are some of the major technology and infrastructure projects happening in Makassar this year?
In terms of infrastructure, our programmes in 2017 are roads rehabilitation, high way planning, elevated inner ring roads, develop the public transport system and new port. In addition, we plan to work on the Land Rapid Transit and Waste To Energy initiatives.
Could you share with us the Makassar Smart City Plan and its progress in the last few years?
For the Smart City Plan, we are looking to implement the plan in all programs such as health, public service and the waste management system. In 2014, we started with the Plan and in 2015 we built the base infrastructure such as the command centre. Last year, we had customised apps to answer citizens’ feedback and queries. This year we are making a main data platform and in 2018 we aim to integrate our various platforms into one big data base system.
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly common and essential in the journey of digital transformation and becoming a Smart City. What are your thoughts on PPPs and how is Makassar working with the private sector in the Smart City Plan?
Makassar is the only one city in Indonesia that has PPP Centre. With the PPP scheme, investments can be run properly and developments accelerated in Makassar. PPP is one way to achieve capital investments and accelerated growth for the city.
You have been the Mayor of Makassar for almost 3 years now. What are some of the memorable achievements/milestones as Mayor so far and what do you hope to achieve in the future?
Here are some of the achievements so far:
· Human Development Index reached 80.
· Poverty reduced.
· Integrity Index increased from 51 – 72.
· Improvement in the field of hygiene for the city and becoming one of the cleanest cities in Indonesia with the "Adipura" Achievement.
· Happiness Index is at 75.21% (while National Happiness Index is at 69% and Other Cities at 70%).
· Makassar has received 5 of the most prestigious awards in Indonesia:
"WTP", "Adipura Award", "Healthy City Award", "Top Innovation City" and "Good Reports of Regional Governance" – these were not fully attained by the other cities.
In the future, we hope the Smart City vision can be realised. Makassar can be the best, cleanest, the most hygienic and most innovative city. We can be the city with the best finance management and achieve good rankings in the Good Government Agencies Work Report and Good Reports of Regional Governance.