The City of Kuala Kencana, established by PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) on December 5, 1995 in an area of 17,078 hectares in Mimika Regency, Central Papua, is the first modern city in Indonesia built in the middle of a tropical forest. This city was established to support the company’s operations and support the development of Timika city with the concept of “Environmentally Friendly City”.
Entering the Kuala Kencana area, visitors will be treated to a neatly maintained natural atmosphere. The reason is, there are no visible electricity cables and poles, because everything is neatly embedded underground. On the both sides of the road, trees that are the original part of the tropical forest grow. The flora and fauna are also maintained as valuable city assets. This biodiversity is guarded by local residents and closely monitored by special personnel.
The city is surrounded by office buildings, public and social facilities, and places of worship in the city centre. Meanwhile, in the middle of the city, stands a statue designed by Nyoman Nuarta which is the icon of the city of Kuala Kencana. These facilities can be enjoyed by Kuala Kencana residents and Timika residents who live in the city.
PTFI General Superintendent for Facilities Management Samsul Arifin explained, Kuala Kencana City has made a positive contribution to the development of Timika. “One of the reasons is the presence of the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) which has been inaugurated by Mimika Regent Eltinus Omaleng in October 2023 as an effort to provide clean water facilities for the community in Timika City,” said Samsul through his press statement, Wednesday (6/12/2023).
PTFI and the Mimika Regency Government worked together to support the facility with a total of 10 million US dollars spent or equivalent to Rp 150 billion. Currently, the facility is in the trial phase and will be used as a clean water facility that can support the quality of life of Timika City residents. Kuala Kencana City has successfully combined elements of environmental sustainability and the quality of life. In addition, Kuala Kencana was also used as a benchmark for the development of the National Capital of Nusantara (IKN) in East Kalimantan and had become the location of marathon and racewalking competitions during the XX National Sports Week (PON) event in Papua.
“To this day, we continue to manage Kuala Kencana well as a modern mining town in eastern Indonesia. We hope that the presence of Kuala Kencana can always contribute positively, and can even have a greater impact in the future,” Samsul said.
Kuala Kencana has a waste control and waste management system that is monitored regularly. This system has succeeded in minimizing the number of malaria cases in Kuala Kencana City. “We are working with Public Health & Malaria Control (PHMC) to prevent the development of malarial mosquitoes in our area,” Samsul explained. Samsul explained, the residential concept built in Kuala Kencana City combines two elements, namely modern and natural.
“This city was built to blend with nature while maintaining a lot of green open space,” said Samsul Interestingly, he continued, Kuala Kencana City still finds a variety of native Papuan fauna that live in the wild, such as the Bird of Paradise, King Cockatoo, Hornbill, Black Head Parrot, Cuskus, to Cassowary. PTFI built the modern city of Kuala Kencana by preserving its nature before it was handed back to the Indonesian government in the post-mining period.
https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/12/06/11232061/kuala-kencana-jadi-kota-modern-pertama-di-tengah-hutan-tropis-di-papua