JAKARTA -- Major Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group is developing a new town in a suburb of Jakarta, focused squarely on the country's emerging middle class. When complete, the town will have 12 tower condominiums, office buildings, schools and a hospital, among other facilities, with the population expected to reach 70,000. The group hopes to attract to the town not just foreign businesspeople sent by their companies but members of the emerging Indonesian middle class as well. The huge new town is also expected to help improve the living conditions in Jakarta, a city known for the worst traffic congestion in Asia.
The town, dubbed Orange County, is being built in the Bekasi area about 40km east of the central part of Jakarta. On the 322-hectare site, a shopping mall and a few other facilities have already begun operating, but most of the area still remains vacant.
