Council backs NGOs' call for spatial planning moratorium

Luh De Suriyani and Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Tue, 10/21/2008 11:33 AM  |  Bali

The Bali Legislative Council has agreed to support a proposal by a coalition of NGOs for a moratorium on the city's spatial planning, a councilor said Monday.

"The spatial planning has become a serious problem and needs to be tackled immediately," I Nengah Usdek Maharipa, chairman of the Council's Commission II overseeing agriculture, said.

"We are continuously witnessing villas and hotels built on productive land that should have been allocated for agriculture throughout the island.

"Thus we definitely need a pause session for any building constructions,"he added.

I Made Sudiantara, a farmer from Gianyar regency, who attended the meeting, said more farm land was being sacrificed to make way for the construction of new buildings now in his region than before.

"Today, around 200 hectares of land fit for agricultural purposes are on offer to potential buyers," he said."How can we have sovereignty over our own food if these transactions are not stopped?"

Grouped under the People Solidarity for Food Sovereignty (Somasi KP), the NGOs have proposed the moratorium in response to the local administration's indecisive stance toward villa and hotel constructions.

The NGOs include, among others, the Indonesian Legal Assistance Association (PBHI), Wisnu Foundation, Bali Youth Association and Mitra Kasih Woman Foundation.

"We need to temporarily stop foreign investments with building constructions on their agendas," Ni Nyoman Sri Widiyanti, Somasi KP's chairwoman said.

"We are going to use the pause session to reorganize land allocation and more nature preservation activities, including reconsidering all building construction permissions issued earlier.

"We also need to deal with any legal disputes that may occur after the moratorium is implemented,"she added.

Somasi KP has urged the local administration to produce its blueprint on building construction so they can use it as a benchmark for building construction projects implemented in the future, Sri Widiyanti said.

"We are expecting local government to use a better perspective in regulating this particular matter - a perspective that will give more room to small-scale farmers to participate in it."

Made Suarnatha from the Wisnu Foundation, who also attended the meeting, said the moratorium would take at least five years to implement.

"We are going to use the first two years to reanalyze and reorganize the legal system regarding land allocation and legal permission for building constructions issued earlier," he told The Jakarta Post.

"Thus we expect to come out with a new regulation after two years of deliberation," he added.

The remaining three years, he added, would be allocated to implementing the new regulation. He said a new team comprising of legal experts from local administrations, conservationists from NGOs and representatives from customary village associations was expected to run dayto-day operations, with the legislators formulating the regulation.

"There is good momentum for the Balinese right now because we have a new governor that we hope has greater concerns for nature preservation and lower-class residents," he said.

"The concerns could be met by freeing small-scale farmers from land tax obligations and or reallocating land that has been abandoned by investors to farmers so they can grow vegetables,"he added.

Suarnatha said the NGOs expected the local councilors to initiate the moratorium next year.

"We will keep asking the local councilors to keep their promise."

It is widely believed that improper implementation of spatial planning policies has caused residents in several places - like Kubu village in Karangasem, Tirta Mas Mampeh village in Kintamani and several others in Nusa Penida, Klungkung and Banglito face serious water crises.

According to the State Ministry for the Environment, Bali had a clean water deficit of 7.5 billion cubic liters in 2000, a significant increase from a deficit of 1.5 billion cubic in 1995.

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