Minister of National Development Planning/Head of Bappenas Suharso Monoarfa made a working visit (Kunker) to Bukittinggi, Saturday (10/4). The minister and his entourage visited the Ngarai Sianok Maninjau National Geopark. The group was welcomed by Mayor Erman Safar and the Regional Secretary along with the Heads of related SKPDs at Panorma Park and Lobang Jepang (Japanese Manhole).

The Mayor of Bukittinggi, Erman Safar, welcomed and explained the condition of the city of Bukittinggi and introduced the Ngarai Sianok Maninjau National Geopark which has been designated and recognized as a national geopark area based on the Decree of the Indonesian National Geopark Committee along with 8 other geopark areas nationally. This was initiated by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and future efforts to move towards the UNESCO Global Geopark. Apart from that, The Mayor also explained efforts to further strengthen the concept of the Ngarai Sianok tourist attraction itself.

Ngarai Sianok will become a tourism object that we will optimize at night. "Later there will be several additions to strengthen the concept such as video mapping. Every weekend night, the walls of this canyon will be shot with video mapping by making a video about the history of the formation of the canyon and the city of Bukittinggi," said Erman.

Minister of National Development Planning/Head of Bappenas Suharso Monoarfa really admires the beauty of Ngarai Sianok and the current development of Bukittinggi. He strongly supports raising the status of this area to a world region by proposing that it become a UNESCO Global Geopark area again.

On this occasion, Minister Suharso Monoarfa also said that there should be more trash bins in the city center and a reduction in the use of plastic bags in daily life.

“I propose that we no longer use plastic bags here. "This will also help promote the geopark itself, because what we are selling here is this extraordinary environment," said Suharso.

On that occasion, Minister Suharso Monoarfa also inspected the Lobang Jepang historical tourist attraction.