Morowali Regency is a

regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

Central Sulawesi Central Sulawesi (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The provin ...

Province of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. It covers an area of 5,472 km². The districts currently within the regency had a combined population of 102,228 at the 2010 Census;Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. the regency population at the 2020 Census was 161,727;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. and the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 170,450 (comprising 93,793 males and 76,657 females).Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2024, ''Kabupaten Morowali Dalam Angka 2024'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.7206) The administrative centre is at the town of Bungku. The Regency includes the far-flung Menui Islands (''Kepulauan Menui''), lying to the southeast of the rest of the province.

History

Before Dutch rule, the region comprising what is today Morowali was the territory of the Kingdom of Bungku. After Dutch annexation, it was administered as the ''landschap'' of Boengkoe. On 4 October 1999, Morowali Regency was created out of a portion of

Poso Regency Poso Regency is a regency of Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. It covers an area of 7,438.55 km2, and had a population of 209,228 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 244,875 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statist ...

. At that time it was composed of the southeastern fourteen districts from the Poso Regency. On 12 April 2013 this Morowali Regency was in turn divided into two Regencies; the seven northernmost districts were split off to form a new

North Morowali Regency North Morowali Regency is a regency in the province of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The regency was established on 12 April 2013, partitioned from the northwestern districts of Morowali Regency (forming almost two-thirds of the regency at that ...

(''Morowali Utara'') covering nearly two-thirds of the area of the then Morowali Regency, while the seven southernmost districts were retained as the residual Morowali Regency, although two additional districts were created by the division of existing ones.

Economy

Morowali Regency contains rich deposits of high-quality

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

, a vital material needed to manufacture

lithium batteries Lithium battery may refer to: * Lithium metal battery, a non-rechargeable battery with lithium as an anode ** Lithium–air battery ** Lithium–iron disulfide battery ** Lithium–sulfur battery ** Nickel–lithium battery ** Rechargeable l ...

. Starting in the 2010s and into the 2020s, the thriving nickel industry in Morowali has resulted in a large increase in the region's GDP (300% increase between 2013 and 2019), but the expansion of the extraction industry has also caused

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

. From 2014 to 2020, over US$6.5 billion in foreign direct investment has flowed into the construction of nickel smelters and other downstream processing activities in Morowali Regency. Morowali is the site of an industrial park, the

Morowali Industrial Park The Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) is an industrial park hosting primarily nickel-related industries in Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is the largest nickel processing site in Indonesia, which is the Nickel mining i ...

, specifically earmarked for refining activities. In Morowali, GDP more than tripled in just six years from Rp 6.9 trillion (US$480 million) in 2013 to Rp 24.3 trillion (US$1.7 billion) in 2019, almost all of it driven by investment in downstream nickel processing. As of 2021, the largest foreign investors were American, Chinese, and Japanese companies, while the government of Indonesia is attempting to build a domestic battery industry. The growth of this facility has resulted in the rapid expansion in the population, particularly in Bahodopi District where the mine is situated. The increased workforce migrating into the area has been largely male, resulting in a substantively high gender ratio in the regency.

Administrative districts

The Morowali Regency was divided (following the creation of the separate North Morowali Regency in 2013) into seven

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''), but two further districts (Bungku Pesisir and Bungku Timur) were later created. These are all tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2022.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2023, ''Kabupaten Morowali Dalam Angka 2023'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.7206) The table also includes the location of the district headquarters, the numbers of

administrative village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

s in each district (totaling 126 rural ''desa'' and 7 urban ''kelurahan''), and its postal codes. Notes: (a) partly on Sulawesi island (and comprising the most southeastern part of the province), but also including 42 islands mainly to the southeast of the rest of the province. The largest are Menui Island (''Pulau Menui'') and the two Padui Islands.
(b) including one ''kelurahan'' (Ulunambo). (c) includes a group of islands off the northeast coast of Bungku Selatan, of which the largest are Umbele (''Pulau Umbele Gunung''), Paku, Waru-Waru and Pado-Pado.
(d) the 2010 populations of Bungku Pesisir District and Bungku Timur District are included in the figures for the Districts from which they were cut out in 2013.
(e) including 6 ''kelurahan'' (Bungi, Lamberea, Marsaole, Matano, Mendui and Tofoiso).

References

{{Authority control Regencies of Central Sulawesi States and territories established in 1999