The Indonesian government says it will halt plans to establish new administrative regions in Papua as the current ones had yet to improve people's welfare.
The Jakarta Post reports the home minister, Tjahjo Kumolo, saying that the setting up of new regional divisions will be postponed to avoid a greater burden on the state budget.
He says a review of the performance of new administrative regions in the country had shown 60 percent of them did not have the ability to manage their natural resources and generate revenue.
The minister says the new regions risk becoming a burden on the central government.
Papua currently consists of two provinces, Papua and West Papua, with dozens of cities and regencies.
The failure to improve the welfare of residents had prompted requests to split the regions into smaller administrative areas.
