Bitung is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

on the northern coast of the island of

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. It is in the province of

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Socc ...

, and faces Lembeh Island (which forms two districts of the city) and the Lembeh Strait, which is known for its colourful

marine life Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. ...

, in particular sea slugs. Bitung has a population of 187,932 at the 2010 Census, making it the second most populated city in the province after the capital

Manado Manado () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi. It is the second largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar, with the 2020 Census giving a population of 451,916 distributed over a land area of 162.53 km2.Badan Pusa ...

, rising to 225,134 at the 2020 Census.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. At present large numbers of development projects undergoing centering around the city, which include the SEZ,

Manado–Bitung Toll Road Manado-Bitung Toll Road is a toll road that connects Manado and Bitung, two largest cities of North Sulawesi province in the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. This toll road serves as the main access road to Bitung Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Bi ...

, Bitung International Ocean Going Ship Port, and the Makasar-Bitung rail track, which will automatically make the city a gateway to the Pacific region.

Administrative divisions

The city is divided into eight

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''kecamatan''), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. The table also includes the number of administrative villages (urban ''kelurahan'') in each district. Notes: (a) formerly Bitung Tengah (Central Bitung). (b) formerly Bitung Barat (West Bitung). (c) formerly Bitung Selatan (South Bitung); the district includes 15 offshore islands. (d) formerly Bitung Timur (East Bitung).
(e) formerly Bitung Utara (North Bitung); the district includes offshore island of Pulau Powteng.

Nature Reserve

Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve is two hours' drive away from Manado, and one hour from Bitung. Tarsius spectrum can be found easily in the Nature Reserve.

Economy

Bitung Special Economic Zone (SEZ)

Bitung was named as one of the country's Special Economic Zones in 2014. Priority sectors in the area are logistics, herbal pharmacy, fish processing and coconut processing. Based on Government Regulation No.32/2014 on Bitung SEZ, it will occupy an area of 534 hectares. The SEZ is divided into three zones, namely industrial zone, logistics zone and

Export Processing Zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re- exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to cu ...

Transport

Manado-Bitung Toll Road

On 16 January 2014 local authorities passed responsibility to acquire land for the

to the Public Works Ministry, although the initiation of works after the formality would take some time. The construction of the 39.9-km toll road is expected to cost Rp 6.7 trillion ( US$ 503 million), and the Indonesian Government expects it to be completed by late 2018 and operational on 2019.

Davao-Bitung Roll-On Roll-Off Ferry Service

On 28 April 2017, Philippines President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson ...

and Indonesia President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elit ...

inaugurated the Davao-Bitung Roll-on Roll-Off Ferry Service that will allow journey time of just 3 days between two cities. The original shipping route from

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dabaw; ), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land ...

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

took up to 5 weeks because ships first have to sail northwards to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

, passing through

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

waters before it reaches various ports in Indonesia. Under the program, there are 5 to 10 companies who will use the initial voyage of the Cebu-based Asia Marine Transport Corp.’s M/V Super Shuttle RORO 12 with a 500-TEU capacity. Among the goods to be traded include animal feeds, aqua products, charcoal, coffee beans, construction materials, copra, feed ingredients, fertilizers, food and beverages, fresh fruits, ice cream products, meats, peanuts, poultry (halal), soya, sugar, and synthetics. By 2019, however, the route had ceased operations due to a lack of demand caused by similarities in commodities produced by the two cities.

Climate

Bitung has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southe ...

(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

References

Media

*https://web.archive.org/web/20130808160445/http://bitungtimes.com/ {{North Sulawesi Port cities and towns in Indonesia