In Indonesia, creating growth centres, such as the Free Trade Zone (FTZ), is a strategy for regional development to stimulate economic expansion. The location of the FTZ of the Batam, Bintan, Karimun (BBK) area has been chosen strategically near Singapore and Malaysia. As a recognized national strategic area, the BBK area demonstrates substantial potential to augment the advancement of the national economy. This research employs the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to examine programs to prioritize strategies for advancing regional development. AHP has been demonstrated to facilitate the structuring of problems, identifying common opinions among respondents, and formulating solutions. The findings indicate that land preparation and permits are priority initiatives (0.122), followed by institutional reinforcement (0,111) and simplified requirements (0,071). As an archipelago, the enhancement of basic Infrastructure is also essential (0.052), mainly to improve connectivity. The next priority should be to improve the quality of human resources (0,051), fostering a favourable environment for investment. The outcomes of this investigation are expected to enrich the corpus of regional studies literature and provide valuable insights in assessing the efficacy of FTZ policies.

Future global economic stability is under significant threat from environmental risks. Rural peat areas are particularly susceptible due to their elevated levels of hazard, vulnerability, and limited capacity. Acknowledging these risks is pivotal for fostering a low-carbon development trajectory. This study analyzes the environmental risk in rural peat areas within Riau Province. The PROMETHEE method, incorporating Shannon Entropy weighting for data analysis, was employed. The findings reveal that four regencies are exhibiting favorable environmental risk conditions and five regencies facing adverse conditions. The criteria influencing the environmental risk of rural peat in Riau Province showcase various positive and negative contributions across each regency. The sensitivity analysis underscores the resilience of forest fires and the social forest program in three regencies. Recognizing environmental risk can serve as a foundation for decision-makers to formulate sustainable development policies.