The public lecture with the speaker of The City Mayor of Semarang City, Mr. Hendrar Prihadi, SE.,MM., was held online on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 via Zoom and Youtube. This event started at 12.30 and was opened by a welcome speech from Prof. Ir. M. Agung Wibowo, MM, MSc, PhD as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. The event, which was opened to the public, was attended by the Head of the Urban and Regional Planning Department, Mr. Dr. Ir. Hadi Wahyono, MA as well as several lecturers, educators, students and alumni, as well as people related to the field of Urban and Regional Planning. Taking the theme “Directions and Challenges of Semarang City Development” this material was presented directly by the Mayor of Semarang, Mr. Hendrar Prihadi, SE, MM.
The public lecture begins with an explanation of the general description of the city of Semarang with one of the facts stating that the city of Semarang is a city in Indonesia which has the largest area of 372.3 km, which is larger than the areas of the cities of Surabaya, Medan, and Bandung which have more population Lots. But on the other hand, the APBD of Semarang City is small when compared to Surabaya, Bandung, Bogor Regency, Medan, Bekasi and several other areas. Even so, the Semarang City Government has tried to develop the concept of joint development in order to accelerate development to catch up with other cities.
Prof.Ir. M. Agung Wibowo, MM, MSc, PhD – Dean of the Faculty of Engineering
From history, the economy of Semarang City originally developed from the agriculture sector in the days before Indonesian independence. After independence until around the 2000s, the economy of Semarang City developed in the manufacturing sector as evidenced by the presence of several well-known brands such as Viar, and several international standard t-shirts such as Nike, Adidas, etc. The economy of Semarang City has continued to shift until the 2000s until now, the City of Semarang has developed a tourism economy in order to provide equal opportunities to develop for all people, both those who have capital and those who do not. This is indicated by the growth of homestay tourism around Goa Kreo which sells natural beauty and the emergence of several thematic village developments in the city of Semarang.
Hendrar Prihadi, SE, MM – Mayor of Semarang City,
The Semarang City government realizes that the city is not automatically free from all the problems that exist in it. Semarang City Government strives to always be present in every aspect of community life and tries to be responsive to public complaints. For this reason, the Semarang City Government has several programs such as the Hendi Report to accommodate the aspirations and complaints of the community against the conditions of the city of Semarang, besides that there are also assistance with the birth process and making birth certificates, then free education programs for kindergarten, elementary, junior high, high school, and college, free job training, to free funerals for underprivileged families who are grieving.
In addition, the Semarang City Government has made efforts to handle floods and robs by constructing a sea wall and the concept of a waterfront city, as evidenced by the decrease in the number of floods and robs in Semarang City from 2011 to 2019, down from 41.02% to 13.71%. The percentage of damaged roads in 2011 54% also decreased to 5.09% in 2019, so the poverty rate and slum areas also continued to decline, and on the other hand investment growth, long-schooling expectations, expenditure per capita, and the happiness index continued to increase every year. Even the happiness index for Semarang City, which was previously the lowest in Central Java in 2010, continues to increase in 2019, even higher than several other cities such as Solo, Surabaya and Bandung. With the moderator being the Head of Program Study Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP), Dr. Iwan Rudiarto, ST, MSc, the event ended with a question and answers session.
Link Youtube: Public Lecture “Directions and Challenges of Semarang City Development”