Bumpy road ahead for Indonesia’s ‘Silicon Valley’

The road to the ambitiously planned Bukit Algoritma (Algorithm Hill) in Cikidang, Sukabumi, West Java is bumpy and full of twists and turns. Some sections, surrounded by oil palm plantations nearly 700 hectares in diameter, can barely accommodate a car and a motorbike at the same time.

The planned research and technology center, which seeks to emulate Silicon Valley in California, United States, will be developed through a partnership involving Kiniku Bintang Raya. Rp 18 trillion ($ 1.23 billion) has been invested for its first phase of development, which is expected to last three years.

In addition to small rocky roads, the 888-hectare land on which the resort will be built is more than two hours’ drive from Jakarta, the country’s business and financial center. The resolution of this connectivity problem requires the development of the second section of the & nb …