Jakarta, Kemitraan. Spatial planning is the basis for development of a region. However, bad coordination among the central government, regional administrations and other related government institutions as well as inaccurate data have caused overlapping policies and inequitable spatial master planning. These views were shared at national seminar on “Provincial Spatial Planning within a Just and Prosperous Indonesia.”

The seminar was organized by Provincial Government of Central Kalimantan and supported by Kemitraan, on 9th January 2010 at Nikko Hotel, Jakarta. The objectives of the seminar are to raise public awareness on the role and function of spatial planning, and to build a constructive dialog forum among related stakeholders, particularly between the central and regional government.

Legal certainty in the utilization of the available space in the area is highly important as it is related to the success of regional development. “A region would not be able to utilize its abundant natural resources unless there is legal certainty on the space and land use of the area. This is due to the fact that spatial plan is related to the law and institutions managing it ,” asserted A. Teras Narang, the Governor of Central Kalimantan Province.

“Hence, coordination among different institutions is urgently needed since the policies are issued by relevant government institutions whereas regions are merely implementing,” he continued.

Particularly in the development of Central Kalimantan, Prof. Emil Salim emphasized the importance of using resource enrichment development approach instead of resource exploitation. “Central Kalimantan is rich in natural resources, therefore its development pattern should be different than existing ones,” he emphasized.

Deddy Koespramoedyo, Director of Spatial Planning and Land at the National Development and Planning Agency (Bappenas), admitted that the existing spatial planning was formulated in haste and the data of forest area map used in the formulation is inaccurate and diverse.

Based on the seminar note, the forum agreed upon several points, among others are: first, the spatial planning has to be in line with the good governance and environmentally-friendly principles; and second, the spatial planning at the end has to be able to promote and increase people’s welfare.