THE Municipality of Pangkalpinang on the Island of Bangka is the capital of Bangka Belitung province. To run the provincial and municipal government, over 4,900 of its total population of 141,963 in 2004 were civil servants. This number exceeds those working in the agricultural sector.

The soil conditions and lack of land in Pangkalpinang do not enable this region to cultivate agriculture. Of its entire size of 89.40 square kilometers, only 17.5