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Bali proposes two-year moratorium on hotel, nightclub construction
Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the moratorium could last five-10 years if the need arose, based on the government's assessment of current conditions.
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Balinese Hindus parade ogoh-ogoh (giant effigies) on March 12, 2023 during a Car-Free Day event at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta. The parade was held to welcome this year's Nyepi (Day of Silence) and to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Bali Saraswati School of Arts. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
T
he Bali provincial administration has proposed a two-year moratorium on the construction of hotels, nightclubs and villas on the island, as it seeks to deal with increased land conversion and conservation problems.
Interim Bali governor Sang Made Mahendra Jaya made the proposal public on Saturday, which he submitted to the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister. He proposed the moratorium to cover the Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan (Sarbagita) area.
The aim was to better organize the area and to pursue quality tourism, Sang Made said, as quoted by state-owned news portal Antara.
Moreover, the proposal is designed to address the side-effects of having centralized decision making on land conversion for commercial use, which does not involve the regional government, as stipulated in the Job Creation Law.
“I was very shocked as a [government] official; I saw the cliff cutting that went viral on TikTok, which we didn’t know about, suddenly it’s there. There are also big beach clubs in Tabanan and Denpasar, which we also didn’t know about, so we’re dumbfounded,” said the interim governor.
The viral video refers to a hotel construction in Southern Kuta district in Bali that has cut through cliffs on the coast. Locals living near the area have raised concerns over the activity’s damage to the environment and safety of fishermen operating near the coast.
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