JOHOR BAHRU, 9 November 2016 – A group 41 students of Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning program from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP), Faculty of Built Environment (FAB), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) paid a study visit Batam Island, Indonesia.

The visit was an academic requirement of the course subject, Planning Practice (SBEP 3243) and was led by the lecturer for the course, Senior Lecturer, Dr Gobi Krishna s/o Sinniah.

In Batam, the students visited the Kota Batam Town Planning Board or Badan Perencanaan Daerah Kota Batam (BAPPEDA) and was briefed by its Chairman, Wan Darussalam and assisted by Agung Aidil Sahalo about the development and the planning system of Kota Batam.

The briefing was followed by a discussion and question and answer session at the end.
During the visit, students also had the opportunity to walk around the town centre and the Central Business District (CBD) to witness the development in Kota Batam.

Students were required to prepare a report as feedback on lessons learnt and knowledge gained from the study visit to Kota Batam.