Batam is an island-city in Indonesia. Strategically located in the
Malacca Straits and close to Singapore and Johor (Malaysia) cities, Batam gains
its status as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which has made its growth rapid and was categorized as one of the fastest-growing cities in the world in term of population according to US-based consultancy Demographia (The Guardian, 2015). As
result, carrying capacity and land shortage of Batam has become the main
concern followed with the issues of clean water
supply availability, high amount of domestic waste and land management
including coastal reclamation activities. Moreover, the existence of two government agencies in
managing the development of Batam has led to the dualism of planning governance
and caused the conflict of authority. The underlying conflict pits
Batam-Indonesia Free Zone Authority (locally known as BP Batam), which is a central government
agency and the local government, Batam City Government (locally known as PEMKO Batam).
