WHEN plans for Indonesia's '21st Century City' were announced, the critics scoffed. Ambitious, unprecedented and daring, they conceded, but impossible.
The critics had a point. Lippo Group was rightfully respected in the field of banking and financial services. But real estate? And on a scale never seen before? Only three years have passed since Lippo Group, with no prior track record or credentials in urban planning and development, launched its boldest venture: it created a new city from the swamp of a rice-paddy.
It is a self-contained community for 50,000 residents complete with schools, offices, shopping malls, salons, hotels and even a resort with an 18-hole, world-class championship golf course.
The critics are now eating their words. Lippo Group's revolutionary vision for a plot 20 minutes from Jakarta's central business district is fast becoming a reality. The first residents have already moved in.
Both Lippo Bank and the Lippo Group have established their headquarters in this trend-setting retreat for the capital's burgeoning middle-class and upwardly mobile.
Lippo Village, as it is known, is all systems go and advancing at a rapid rate.
'It is a success story beyond our wildest expectations,' said promotions manager Fay Radza.
