Indonesians Create a Replica Of Singapore To Escape Congestion

Indonesia cities are the product of sparse planning, floods, overdevelopment, brownouts and epic traffic jams magnified by the dearth of public transit. In response, private planned cities like CitraLand's Singapore of Surabaya are growing rapidly.

December 5, 2010, 11am PST | George Haugh

Replica's of Singapore most famous monuments such as the Fountain of Wealth mark one entrance to CitraLand - a planned city 15 miles west of downtown Surabaya. To many Indonesians, Singapore is a familiar destination for shopping, schooling and medical care and is known throughout the world for its first class infrastructure.

"In 2003, Ciputra began turning a parcel of land larger than six Central Parks into a Singapore simulacrum, now complete with residential and commercial areas, a university, eight schools, seven banks, a hospital, a church, a mosque, a golf course and an amusement park," reports Norimitsu Onishi.

Pushing a cart through a supermarket in CitraLand recently, Carol Isbandi, 31, said she and her husband moved here two years ago with their two sons after tiring of life in Surabaya.

"We just wanted to live in a place that's as clean as Singapore," she said, "and where everything is in order."

Full Story:

For City Dwellers, a Taste of The Orderly Life

Published on Sunday, November 28, 2010 in The New York Times