Batam Island

Batam is an island and city in Riau Island province of Indonesia,known for its free trade zonearea as part of the Sijori Growth Triangle,area as part off Singapore'south coast. The 715 km² (276 miles²) island has a population of 791,605 (2008).
The official language on the island is Indonesia, but due to the sizeable Chinese population, Chinese languages including Teochew,Hokkien and Mandarin are also spoken.

Geography

Batam is located east of Karimun and bulan island,west of Bintan,North of Rempang,and south of singapore.The Riau Straitseparates Batam and Bintan

Major communities on Batam are Sekupang, Jodoh, Nagoya, Sungai Panas, Batam Centre, Balai, Batu Ampar, and Bengkong.

Batam is a small but busy island in Indonesia of 45km x 25km and nearly a million people, hundreds of multinational owned factories, towns, shopping centres and gateway to the Riau Islands.

Cities

*Nagoya (Lubuk Baja)
*Nongsapura
*Batam Centre
*Sekupang
*Jodoh
*Tlaga Punggur

Other destinations

*Rempang Island - rural island dotted with coastal villages on stilts.
*Galang Island- location of former Vietnamese refugee camp.

Economy

Beginning in the 1970s, the island underwent a major transformation from a largely forested area into a major harbor and industrial zone. The population grew from a few thousand in the 1960s into hundreds of thousands.The island's economy benefits from being close to Singapore,

and, with lower labour costs and special government incentives, is the site of many factories operated by Singaporean companies.Shipbuilding and electronics manufacturing are major industries on the island; there are also several resorts and tourist destinations on the island.

Under a framework signed in June 2006, Batam, along with parts of neighboring Bintan and Karimun,are a part of a Special Economic Zone with Singapore; this zone eliminates tariffsand value-added taxes for goods shipped between Batam and Singapore.

Transport

The island is connected by several ferry services to nearby cities, including Bintan,Karimun,Singapore and Johor Bahru (Malaysia); the trip to Singapore takes less than one hour.

is the island's airport, and has the longest runway in Indonesia; Jakartais the most important destination.

The "Barelang" bridges are a major landmark on Batam. The name is an abbreviation of Batam-Rempang-Galang, the three major islands connected by the bridges. The bridges were constructed under Habibie as the Minister for Research and Technology with funding from the German government.