REDUCING REGIONAL DISPARITIES THROUGH DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL GROWTH CENTERS IN INDONESIAN REMOTE BORDER AREAS: A CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

Abstraksi

President Joko Widodo administration has tried to reduce regional disparities in Indonesia by among others developing remote border area. Some great efforts are in the process such as thousands kilometers of road development, reconstruction of many cross border posts, etc. However, developing such area is not an easy task, especially when the objective is to improve the economic condition of people living in that area. Road development, for instance, needs to be ensured that it can promote economic development in border area. However, it needs to be accompanied by other policies, otherwise people will not get the expected benefits. This paper explains a conceptual design of strategies in order to promote development in border area by, first, understanding the specific problems of each area since they may have different specific problems such as water scarcity, access to market, cultural problems, access to information, etc. Second, by reviewing related theories starting from a simple one such as Gravity model, economies of scale in infrastructure provision, to cross subsidy from more rapid growing areas. For that reason, the roles of geographical location, institution, culture, network, infrastructure and other aspects in regional development are explored. In addition, learning experiences from other countries in dealing with its remote areas is also necessary. A conceptual design of strategies is proposed more as a grand design. It will not deal with specific detailed problems of each area but it recommends that such research is necessary in order to provide sound research based policies.