L

aw enforcement on environmental violations remains weak with violators handed only reprimand letters, says a government official.

Of 30 environmental dispute cases last year, none have been tried at the local court, said I Komang Ardana, a Bali Environmental Agency monitoring division official, said Tuesday.

“The cases involve both small and large companies in Bali, such as hotels and restaurants, but we only send warning letters because our focus is to assist them in improving waste management.”

This year, however, the Bali administration will report environmental disputes to the police if violations continue.

“The governor has called for better law enforcement this year by deploying civil servant investigators to handle environmental cases,” Ardana said.

The agency also recorded 99 other violations, mostly the sprouting of illegal dumpsites in at least 35 locations in Bali.

At these dumpsites, officers operating garbage trucks disposed of garbage on the street.

Ardana said the local administration should be more firm.

“The dumping also results because the local administration does not provide more garbage trucks,” he said, adding that garbage transportation only included the main streets of city areas.

To solve this problem, the Bali administration aims to develop a garbage management unit in every zone.

The provincial administration is also conducting environmental monitoring to manage industrial waste under a program called Proper, targeting 25 large-scale companies comprising 19 star hotels and six electricity generating companies.  

“We hope all these companies can practice green economics. They will be assisted until they reach the highest category of ‘Gold’ for good waste management,” Ardana said.  

In 2008, the provincial administration launched a center to receive reports on environmental damage and disputes.

The first report came from Bali’s Environmental Forum (WALHI) on the construction of villas on Kelating Beach in Tabanan regency, which allegedly passed the coast line.

The regency administration reports there are 35 villas built there without the required environmental certificates (AMDAL). The villa was sold to foreigners at Rp 3 billion.

In its report, WALHI ask the Bali administration to enforce the environmental law, saying the investors had violated the spatial law, and warning the regency administration for approving the project.