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Palu (Indonesian: Kota Palu), officially known as the City of Palu, is the capital and largest city of Central Sulawesi. Located on the northwestern coast of Sulawesi, the city borders Donggala Regency in the north and west, Parigi Moutong Regency in the east, and Sigi Regency in the south. The city's boundaries cover a land area of 395.06 square kilometers. According to the 2020 Indonesian census, the city has a population of 373,218, making it the the third largest city on the island behind only Makassar and Manado. It is the finance, governance, and education center of the Central Sulawesi as well as one of several major cities in the entire island. The city hosts the province's main port and its biggest airport, as well as the location of majority of the province's public universities.
Palu | |
|---|---|
Clockwise from the top: Palu seen at night, Palu Nusantara Gong of Peace, Nosarara Nosabatutu Peace Monument, Palontoan flyover, and Floating Mosque of Palu | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Motto: Maliu Ntuvu | |
| Coordinates: 0°53′42″S 119°51′34″E | |
| Country |  Indonesia |
| Province |  Central Sulawesi |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Hadianto Rasyid |
| • Vice Mayor | Reny A. Lamadjido |
| Area | |
| • Total | 395.06 km2 (152.53 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 118 m (387 ft) |
| Population (2020 Census) | |
| • Total | 373,218 |
| • Density | 940/km2 (2,400/sq mi) |
| [1] | |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (Indonesia Central Time) |
| Area code | (+62) 451 |
| HDI |  0.815 (Very high)
|
| Website | www |
Located in Palu Bay, the city was initially a small agricultural town until it was chosen as the capital of the newly created province of Central Sulawesi in 1953. Being built on top of the Palu-Koro Fault, the city has been frequently struck by earthquakes. The most notable one happened in 2018, which caused what considered to be the largest soil liquefaction and destroyed much of city's infrastructure, prompting a plan by government to move the city away from being too close to the fault and soil liquefaction area.
The city itself is relatively new, founded formerly as an agricultural town and historically less significant compared to then-bigger town of Donggala, around 35 kilometers below it.[2] The creation of the town was initiated by people from several villages around Ulayo Mountain. There are different versions for the origin of the city's name. One of it was that the city name came from word Topalu'e which means "raised land". However, other version was the origin of the city's name came from word Volo which was a name of local bamboo plants found around the region.[3]
Early history
Early traditional history of the city and its surrounding can be divided into several historical era, which are Tomalanggai Era, Tomanuru Era, and Independent Era.[2]
Tomalanggai Era was the earliest period in region's traditional history. During this era, most of the inhabitants were still a hunter-gatherer and relatively violent. Due to scarce resource, many tribal groups waged war against eachother, where the losing group would need to settle with the winner and work for them. The leader of these early settlers were called Tomalanggai, hence the name of the era. Due to power structure was not yet formalized, these Tomalanggai are essentially absolute rulers with no limits of power which in turn caused group wars and rebellions more often.[2] The following period is called Tomanuru Era, where as power consolidated and village structures became formalized, several reforms were made and relatively peaceful than earlier period. According to traditional legend, this era was the time where the villages were ruled by descendant of gods from heaven. It was said that a Tomalanggai one day wanted golden bamboos which grew around the region for his water container and commanded his troops to chop all of them. After the bamboo were choped down, a storm suddenly came but soon stopped. After the storm stopped, a beautiful women appeared where the bamboo was. The Tomalanggai brought her to the his village and married her, and their descendant was said to be wiser and stronger than his father. The name of the period roughly means "the one that brings blessing". This period last until around 16th century. During this era, aristocrat class within Kaili society started to appear with title madika.[2] After Tomanuru Era, the region experienced another historical period Indonesian historians called "zaman Merdeka" or Independent Era. During this time, kingdoms in the region started to have trade contacts with outside world as well as several signs of early democratic form of government. Kingdoms in the region were not lead by single power entity anymore, but rather devolved to several representative bodies and councils. The power structure was divided into three levels, which are magau (king) who leads kingdoms, madika nobles who leads districts, and kapala who leads villages. Kingdoms also known to have structures such as patanggota, pitunggota, or walunggota. Each of them rouglhly means four officials, seven officials, and eight officials, refering to amount of ministries beside the king who managed the kingdom. Kingdoms around the region also developed military structures with full-time officers and commanders. This era lasted roughly until the arrival of the Dutch in the region.[2]
Several kingdoms in the region during this period were Bangga Kingdom and Pakawa Kingdom located around 30 kilometers from the city today. Other kingdoms in the region, particularly on Palu Valley, were Palu Kingdom, Tawaeli, Bora, and Sigi. Among them, Bangga Kingdom and Sigi Kingdom were among the biggest and most powerful, acting as regional power within the region.[2]
Colonial era
Contact with Europeans, particularly Portuguese, occured since late 16th century mainly for trading and rights to use ports. Portuguese influence can be seen today in several communities of Kaili people, particularly in region used to be under Kulawi Kingdom around 80 kilometers from Palu, who wear dress that resemble the Portuguese.[2] Contact with the Dutch only started in 19th century when the Portuguese influence in the region had waned off. The first kingdom to sign a contract with the Dutch was Sigi Kingdom with signing of Large Kontrack in 1863 and Karte Verklaring in 1917. Kingdom of Banawa also signed Large Kontrack in 1888 and Kartte Verklaring in 1904. Other smaller kingdoms soon followed too with signing of same contracts and agreements. Between 1863 and 1908, practically all kingdoms in the region had been under influence of the Dutch and soon incorporated into the Dutch East Indies.[2] There were local resistance however such as Donggala War in 1902 led by King Tombolotutu, Sigi War between 1905 to 1908 led by King Toi Dompu, and Kulawi War between 1904 to 1908. As the native kingdoms were mostly defeated in the war, there would be no significant resistance from natives until 1942.[2]
World War II and National Revolution
In 1942, influenced by the tide of World War II and rising Indonesian nationalism movement, an uprising refered as Merah Putih Movement (lit: Red and White Movement) appeared in the region. The uprising in this region started in 25 January 1942 where a Dutch colonial police chief in the region were killed and several officials were taken hostage by the movement. The movement in Central Sulawesi was closely connected to the one organized by Nani Wartabone in Gorontalo during the same time. The movement controlled the region of former Kulawi Kingdom supported by ex-nobles from the region. The Kingdom of Kulawi was revived and royal troops were mobilised to support the nationalist cause. The movement stronghold was located in Momi Mountain, across Miu River. As the result of the movement, king of Kulawi, Toi Torengke were arrested. On 1 February 1942, the movement rised Indonesian flag on Tolitoli followed by playing of Indonesia Raya. This resulted in an assault by the Dutch military and killing of several nationalist figures in the region. The movement soon spread to other regions such as Luwuk and Poso. Red and White Movement plead its allegiance to National Government, a provisional Indonesian government set up by Nani Wartabone in Gorontalo. Following the conquest by the Empire of Japan, as the result of the arrest of Nani Wartabone by the Japanese forces, the Red and White Movement collapsed. The nationalist movement in the Sulawesi was supressed and seen with suspicion by Imperial Japanese Navy which occupied the region, unlike in the region under army such as Java and Sumatra.[4][2][5] Following surrender of Japan and Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in Jakarta, a paramilitary organization named Laskar Tanjumbulu was formed by surviving fighters of the previous Merah Putih Movement. The paramilitary took over several Japanese military facilities and weapons while distributing news about Indonesian Independence. At the same time, the remaining Japanese officials transfered governance responsibility to several native kings in the region including Palu before leaving. Some of these kings later turned out to be supporter of Indonesian republic and created difficulties for returning Dutch administration to take over. However, king of Palu and Parigi accepted the return of Dutch administration which landed on Palu in late 1945. On 31 January 1946, widespread crackdown of nationalist movement occured. The region including the city later became part of State of East Indonesia until Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference when the Dutch acknowledged Indonesian sovereignty and State of East Indonesia were disbanded one year later.[2] The city was the location where the dissolvement of State of East Indonesia and return to a unitary republic occured, in a building today called Gedung Juang.[6][7][2]
Modern history
While the city had a Dutch official seat during colonial era, Palu was still by this time a small agriculture town with little significance while Central Sulawesi region's economic and political activities were centered around Poso and Donggala.[2] The center of economic activity in the region shifted when bigger Pantoloan Port were built in Palu Bay and an airport was built, which today become Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport. The construction of Pantoloan Port which competed with older Donggala Port initially were met with objections especially from ship owners and officials in Donggala.[2] Palu's population growth rise dramatically in 1950s and 60s, while Donggala growth stagnated around 1960s. On 1951, Poso Regency with capital in Poso and Palu Regency with capital in Palu were created. This was met with opposition and conflict between residents of Palu and Donggala, where Donggala seen its status as economic center stripped even further and the regency's name is not appropriate.[2] To avoid conflict, on 14 September 1951, a motion was sent to Sulawesi governor to rename Palu Regency to Donggala Regency while keeping the capital in Palu as a compromise.[2] Palu's growth overtaking Donggala were assisted by creation of Palu Administrative City and subsequent creation of Central Sulawesi province in 1964 with Palu as its capital, further alienating Donggala status in the past.[2] The province was established on 12 April 1964 due to students demand for creation of province representing the region.[2] The city gained administrative status in 1978 and kotamadya in 1994.[8]
On 28 September 2018, the city was hit by devastating earthquake and tsunami. The city itself experienced five-metres tsunami and severe soil liquefaction.[9][10][11] The liquefaction was the biggest in the world and caused massive destruction in parts of the city. The land where liquefaction happened is currently uninhabitable.[12] In the aftermath of the disaster, several calls by politician were made to relocate capital city of the province away from Palu due to its vulnerability to earthquakes.[13][14] The plan for city-wide relocation by the city government, dubbed Kota Palu Baru (New Palu City) was predicted to cost between 5 to 6 trillions of Rupiah.[15] Relocation and reconstruction of houses destroyed by the earthquake by the government as of 2022 were still on going, with progress only reaching 45% on May 2022 and predicted to last until December 2023.[16] Ambiguity of land status outside city boundaries supposedly used for new housing for victims of the earthquake in particular hampered the relocation progress, and as many as 6,000 people still live in temporary housing on 2022.[17]
The city is located exactly on top of Palu-Koro Fault on Palu Basin, close to Palu Bay. The basin is composed mostly of clay, silt, and sand that made alluvial deposits in the basin. The deposit was created due to flow of Palu River from above the valley. Alluvial sediments around the city are not consolidated and relatively young, while the basement rock were dated from around Cretaceous period. Below layers of deposits, the rock composition in the region are mostly tertiary granite and granodiorite. The sediments depth is between 25 to 125 metres depending on the location, with thicker layer of sediments in the northern part of the city closer to the river's estuary.[18] Palu-Koro Fault streched around 300 kilometers through Palu Bay cutting right in the middle of the city and connected to subduction zone in northern parts of Sulawesi. The abundance of relatively weak sediments below the city was among the cause of massive soil liquefaction and landslides occured during 2018 Sulawesi earthquake, as the soil below was not consolidated enough.[18][19]
Climate
Palu has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen Af) although relatively dry due to the strong rain shadow of the surrounding mountains.
| Climate data for Palu | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 38 (100) |
37 (99) |
37 (99) |
37 (99) |
35 (95) |
37 (99) |
37 (99) |
37 (99) |
38 (100) |
37 (99) |
37 (99) |
38 (100) |
38 (100) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 30.3 (86.5) |
30.5 (86.9) |
30.7 (87.3) |
30.8 (87.4) |
31.1 (88.0) |
30.2 (86.4) |
29.4 (84.9) |
30.8 (87.4) |
30.9 (87.6) |
32.1 (89.8) |
31.3 (88.3) |
30.8 (87.4) |
30.7 (87.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.6 (79.9) |
26.7 (80.1) |
26.9 (80.4) |
26.9 (80.4) |
27.4 (81.3) |
26.6 (79.9) |
25.7 (78.3) |
26.8 (80.2) |
26.7 (80.1) |
27.7 (81.9) |
27.2 (81.0) |
27.0 (80.6) |
26.9 (80.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 22.9 (73.2) |
23.0 (73.4) |
23.1 (73.6) |
23.1 (73.6) |
23.8 (74.8) |
23.1 (73.6) |
22.0 (71.6) |
22.8 (73.0) |
22.5 (72.5) |
23.3 (73.9) |
23.1 (73.6) |
23.2 (73.8) |
23.0 (73.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 22 (72) |
21 (70) |
18 (64) |
20 (68) |
21 (70) |
21 (70) |
21 (70) |
20 (68) |
20 (68) |
17 (63) |
21 (70) |
21 (70) |
17 (63) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 101 (4.0) |
88 (3.5) |
90 (3.5) |
102 (4.0) |
130 (5.1) |
157 (6.2) |
158 (6.2) |
147 (5.8) |
164 (6.5) |
109 (4.3) |
110 (4.3) |
76 (3.0) |
1,432 (56.4) |
| Average rainy days | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 106 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 75 | 76.5 | 75.5 | 76 | 75.5 | 76.5 | 77 | 74 | 74.5 | 73 | 73 | 74.5 | 75 |
| Source 1: weatherbase[20] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: climate-data[21] | |||||||||||||
Administrative division
At the time of the 2010 Census, the city was divided into four districts (kecamatan), but in 2011 these were re-organised into a new division of eight districts. These are tabulated below with their areas and their population at the 2010 Census[22] and the 2020 Census.[1]
| District | Area
in km2 |
Population
Census 2010 |
Population
Census 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Palu | 8.28 | 98,739 | 46,435 |
| Tatanga | 14.95 | [a] | 52,580 |
| Ulujadi | 40.25 | [a] | 35,055 |
| South Palu | 27.38 | 122,752 | 72,059 |
| East Palu | 7.71 | 75,967 | 43,318 |
| Mantikulore | 206.80 | [a] | 76,745 |
| North Palu | 29.94 | 39,074 | 24,458 |
| Tawaeli | 59.75 | [a] | 22,568 |
| Totals | 395.06 | 336,532 | 373,218 |
Local government
As with all of Indonesian cities, the local government is a second-level administrative division run by a mayor and vice mayor together with the city parliament, and it is equivalent to regency.[23] Executive power lies in the mayor and vice mayor, while legislation duties are carried by local parliament. Mayor, vice mayor, and parliament members are democratically elected by people of the city in an election.[24] Meanwhile, head of districts are appointed directly by city mayor with recommendation by the city secretary.[25][26]
Politics
Palu People's Representative Council Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Palu | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
New session started | 9 September 2019 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 35 |
Political groups | [27] |
| Elections | |
| Open list | |
The city is part of 1st Central Sulawesi electoral district, which consist of only the city itself, that has 6 representatives out of 45 seats in the provincial parliament. On local level, the city is divided into four electoral districts. The city parliament has in total 35 seats. As the capital of Central Sulawesi, the city is location of governor office as well as seat of provincial parliament. Table below shows division of electoral districts in the city as well as amount of representatives they send to city parliament as of 2019.[28][29]
| Electoral district | Districts | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Palu City | Mantikulore, East Palu | 11 |
| 2nd Palu City | Tawaeli, North Palu | 4 |
| 3rd Palu City | South Palu, Tatanga | 12 |
| 4th Palu City | West Palu, Ulujadi | 8 |
| Total | 35 | |
The city's gross regional product was valued at 24,175.89 trillion Rupiah at 2020. The city's economic growth on 2019 was 5.79% on 2019 but later plumented to -4.54% on 2020. This contraction on city's economic growth was caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic at the same year and restrictions it follows later.[30] On 2021, the city's economic growth started positive again at 5.97%.[31]
Economic activities in the city are diverse. The largest sectors in the city accorrding to its contribution to gross regional product were construction (19.41%), administration activities and social security (14.74%), and information and communication sector (10.20%) on year 2020.[30] Other sectors are also present in the city such as trade (9.70%), education (7.90%), and manufacturing (6.57%).[30]
Agriculture
The city was historically an agricultural town. In 1947, it was estimated that 97% of the residents in the city was working on agriculture sector. The biggest agriculture product between 1940s to 1950s was copra with output as many as 718,000 tons on 1947.[2]
Agriculture in the city are still present today despite massive decline. On 2021, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries combined only account for 3.83% of the city's total gross regional product. However, while importance of agriculture in the city's economy is insignificant compared to 1940s ti 1950s, total agricultural output in terms of tonnage currently is significantly bigger, with rice production output as high as 1,492 tons on 2018 compared to only 15 tons in 1947 and maize with 3,255 tons on 2021 compared to only 10 tons on 1947.[31][2] Other agriculture products from the city includes 296.8 tons of groundnuts, 616.6 tons of cassava, 145 tons of chili, 325.4 tons of shallot, 438.5 tons of cayenne pepper, 13.34 tons of spinach, 854.8 tons of tomato, and 49.3 tons of water spinach.[31] Tawaeli district has sizeable herb plants output with 1.9 tons of ginger, 2.6 tons of turrmeric, and 3.2 tons of galangal. The city also produces 257.4 tons of mango, 178.8 tons of jackfruit, and 366.3 tons of banana.[31]
The most populous livestock in the city is chicken with recorded population of 3,449,629 on 2021. Fisheries industry in the city consist of both seafood catches and freshwater aquaculture. Aquaculture industry in the city on 2021 was valued at around 4 billion rupiah, while catches from sea was valued at 45 billion rupiah.[31]
Manufacturing and industry
Manufacturing and processing industry in the city consisted of 1,860 registered large-scale companies which combined employ 9,339 people on 2020. There were also 1,789 registered smaller to medium-sized companies on this sector which employed 6,140 people on the same year.[30] The city is the location of Palu Special Economic Zone, which hosts companies focusing on processing of agricultural and mineral products.[32] Raw materials used for industries in the city mostly came from outside of the city, such as nickel from Morowali Regency, materials for asphalt from Buton Regency, and cocoa beans from plantations across the province which Central Sulawesi is among the largest producer in the country.[33][34]
Hotel and tourism
As the capital of Central Sulawesi, the city has significant hotel sector. On 2020, there were 116 registered hotels in the city according to Statistics Indonesia. However, tourism in the city has seen declining trends. Number of tourists visiting the city both foreign and domestic has been decreasing from 2017, with 291,930 domestic visitors and 3,709 foreign visitors, to just 156,733 domestic visitors and 1,110 foreign visitors on 2019. This number further decreased to just 70,562 domestic visitors and only 194 foreign visitors on 2020.[30] Tourism and hotel industry in the city declined since 2018 due to 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami[35] and later COVID-19 pandemic.[36] Although seeing signs of recovery in 2019 in the aftermath of the earthquake[37], pandemic hampered further recovery of hotel industry until late 2021.[38][39]
The city also has numbers of restaurants, with recorded numbers of registered restaurants of 128 on 2021 although the accurate number could be significantly higher if unregistered restauants are included.[31]
Finance and banking
Palu is the finance center of Central Sulawesi. It is the location of Bank Sulteng (Central Sulawesi Bank) headquarter, regional development bank of the province.[40] The city has 215 registered cooperatives with combined assets of around 22 billion rupiah. The largest sector that received credit from banks in the city is trading and wholesale sector, totalling almost 4 billion rupiah worth of credits. In total, the city's economy has 16 billion rupiah worth of credits from banks. The city has 27 branches of banks such as Bank Sulteng, Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Negara Indonesia, and Bank Central Asia. The city also has several municipally-owned people's credit bank (BPR) such as BPR Palu Lokadana Utama, BPR Palu Anugerah, BPR Sulawesi Mitra Abadi, BPR Prima Artha Sejahtera, and BPR Sulawesi Karya Sentosa.[31] The city has several insurance companies such as Jasaraharja, Taspen, and Asabri, as well as location of Central Sulawesi branch of Indonesia Stock Exchange.[31]
The city has latest population figure of 373,218 on 2020 with population density of 944.71 per square kilometer. Sex ratio in the entire city is 100 means that population of male and female is relatively equal and stable. Population above age of 15 which are considered part of workforce by Statistics Indonesia are 201,083 people. The population as with other regions in Indonesia, is relatively young on productive age with most population between 20 to 30 years old. District with highest population growth is Mantikulore district with 1.77% growth between 2010 and 2020, while the lowest was West Palu with 0.43% population growth. Poverty rate on 2021 sits on 7.17% of the population and unemployement rate was 7.61%.[31]
Majority of the city population are native ethnic of the region which is Kaili people, with significant population of Bugis and Minahasan migrants from neighbouring provinces mostly working as traders or government workers. There are small population of Chinese Indonesians and Arab Indonesians, as well as other ethnicities from all over Indonesia such as Batak, Javanese, Malays, and Minangkabau. As a capital city and an economic center, the city attracts numbers of migrants from all around Indonesia looking for economic opportunities.[2] Majority of population in the city are Muslims and the region was historically converted to Islam in 17th century. There are Christian populations mostly as migrants from other parts of Indonesia as well as local Christian population due to missionary activites that started on 1888 in the region. Other than that, other minorities exist such as followers of Buddhism and Hinduism from other parts of Indonesia as well.[2] The relationship between Kaili and Minahasan population was historically tense during its early days partly due to religious difference between Kaili whom are mostly Muslims and Minahasan whom are mostly Christians and that Minahasan were generally considered financially more capable due to them being government workers in colonial era and the early days of Indonesian republic.[2] There was also brief tension between Bugis and Kaili people due to perceived economic difference, resulting in riots on traditional market in 1992 and 2004.[41][42]
The city has total 504 mosques, 108 Protestant churches, 2 Catholic churches, 4 Balinese temple, and 4 Vihāra.[43]
The city has total 171 kindergartens, 190 elementary schools, 73 junior highschools, and 39 senior highschools on 2020. In addition, there are total 26 vocational highschools also located in the city on the same year. There are also in total 13 universities and higher education institutions in the city as of 2021 according to Statistics Indonesia.[44]
The most prominent university in the city is Tadulako University, which is the main public university of the Central Sulawesi. It has B accrediation and more than 40,000 students registered according to Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.[45] Other public university in the city is Datokarama Islamic State University.[46] It was previously named State Islamic Institute of Datokarama Palu before being uprgaded into university status on 8 July 2021.[46] Other public college in the city includes Kemenkes Health Polytechnic owned by Ministry of Health.[47] The city also hosts various private universities and colleges such as Alkhairaat University, Muhammadiyah Palu University, Palu Theological College, Palu Polytechnic, among others.[48] The city also hosts public university managed by the provincial government.[49][50] Literacy rate in the city is relatively high, at 99.60% for age group between 15 and 19 years old and 99.84% on average in the entire city population.[44]
The city has total 13 hospitals; 3 of them are maternity hospital, 17 polyclinics, 39 puskesmas, and 35 registered pharmacies as of 2020.[44] One of the main public hospital in the city is Undata Regional Hospital, which is managed by government of Central Sulawesi province and classified as B-class. It is also the main referral hospital for the entire province.[51][52][53] Other public hospitals in the city are Anutapura Palu Regional Hospital, Palu Wirabuana Hospital, Bhayangkara Hospital, and Madani Regoinal Hospital.[54][55][56] There are also various private hospitals in the city such as Woodward Hospital, Budi Agung Hospital, Sis Aljufri Hospital, among others.[57][44] The city also has total 227 healthcare posts and 28 registered medical clinics as of 2020.[44]
Monuments
The city has numbers of tourist sites and recreational places. Among them is Nosarara Nosabatutu Peace Monument, which contains a three-storey building and located adjacent to Nusantara Gong of Peace. The name of the building is from Kaili language which means "we are siblings, we are united". The monument was built to commemorate Poso riots, a communal conflict between Christians and Muslims in neighbouring Poso Regency.[58] The monument functions as a museum containing messages about importance of peace from different religions, potrait and biographies of several figures advocating for peace, as well as displaying several traditional crafts from various cultures of Indonesia. The site is a popular spot for city residents to hang out as there are several cafes and an urban park nearby.[59] The site nearby the monument also used for evacuation site in an event of tsunami.[60] Nusantara Gong of Peace located in the site weights 180 kilograms with diameter of 2 meters. The gong contains symbols of then-five religions recognized in Indonesia, as well as coat of arms of then-33 provinces and 444 regencies and cities in Indonesia.[59][61]
Others
Other popular sites in the city includes Citraland Palu, an amusement park which contains several attractions such as ferris wheel, urban parks, bumper cars, as well as cafes and shops around the area.[62][63] There are also other sites such as Palu Museum which focused on history of Central Sulawesi, Sou Raja which is a former palace of local kingdom, Talise Beach, Pantoloan Beach, and Kaombana Urban Forest.[64] The city is home to several shopping malls such as Palu Grand Mall, Plaza Palu, Carrefour Palu, and New Tatura Mall.[65][66][67]
The city has total of 851.558 kilometers of road, from which 842.200 kilometers are paved with asphalt. The city's main container port is Pantoloan Port, which is also main port of Central Sulawesi and the busiest in the province.[68] Pantoloan Port is also used for direct exports from Sulawesi Island to other countries.[69] There are smaller ports in the city such as Wani Port.[70] Palu is served by Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport, which is the largest airport of the province. It is also one of two airports in the province that can handle large aircraft such as Boeing 737, the other being Syukuran Aminuddin Amir Airport in Banggai Regency.[71] It served around 1.2 million people on 2019 and handled around 6 million tons of cargo.[43] Pelni operates ship route to Eastern Indonesia as well as to Balikpapan and Surabaya.[72]
Perum DAMRI, state-owned bus company, served several bus route to and from the city. However, many routes served was closed due to financial problems the company branch in the city experienced during COVID-19 pandemic and as of 2022 the company branch only has 14 units of long distance bus left.[73] There are dozens of private bus company serving the city, notably with route to Makassar.[74][75]
Angkot used to be prominent means of public transport in the city. However, arrival of online ride-hailing services such as Gojek and Grab in the city outcompeted angkot and as of 2021, only 46 angkot vehicle remained operational from figure of 400 in 2017.[76][77] COVID-19 pandemic and earthquake disaster in 2018 also affected angkot business.[76] The city also has rickshaw around the city. On June 2022, mayor of the city passed regulation that all manual rickshaw in the city to be converted to auto rickshaw. The conversion was expeced to finish on 2024.[78]
There are several mass media company based in Palu. On 2021, Statistics Indonesia noted that there are 82 online newspaper operating in the city.[43] Prominent newspaper in the city are SultengRaya, Tribun Palu, and media wing of Alkhairaat.[79] The city, other than receiving national television channels, also has local television channel such as Palu TV.[80] The city also has branch of Radio Republik Indonesia and regional branch of Indonesian state-owned television TVRI for Central Sulawesi province.[81][82]
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