Is Bali being snowed under by megaprojects?<\/p>\n
By I Wayan Juniartha<\/p>\n
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): A heated debate has sprung up concerning
\nplans for a huge five-star hotel in Sendang Pasir area, Buleleng
\nregency, and its wider impact on the environment and local
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
Enthusiastically welcoming the plan for hotel, which will have
\na 2,000-room capacity, is the chairman of Bali's Indonesian Hotel
\nand Restaurant Association, I Gde Wiratha. He believes the
\ncurrent 31,372 rooms in 1,022 hotels in the province are still
\ninadequate to anticipate the golden age of Bali's tourism
\nindustry.<\/p>\n
\"There will be a boom in Bali tourism, not only because we are
\ncheaper but also because our tourist services and facilities have
\nmany times been voted the best in the world,\" is his frequent
\ncomment.<\/p>\n
Not everyone agrees with him. At the forefront are
\nenvironmental activists and intellectuals who are now equipped
\nwith accurate data on the effects of such huge construction.
\nMoreover, there is also the growing sentiment that Bali and its
\npeople have degenerated into objects of tourism exploitation.<\/p>\n
\"Ask the Balinese community first what they desire and don't
\nbuild projects simply because they (the investors) have the
\ninvestment,\" said sociologist Putu Suasta.<\/p>\n
He was referring to a number of megaprojects, which finally
\ncaused unrest among people and environmental damage, such as Bali
\nPecatu Graha at Pecatu, Nirwana Bali Resort at Tanah Lot and the
\ntourist area of Serangan Island.<\/p>\n
The new hotel, set to cost trillions of rupiah and includes a
\nluxurious apartment building, marina, park, marine park and a
\ngolf course, will be built on almost 247 hectares on the northern
\ncoast of Bali.<\/p>\n
According to environmental activists from various non-
\ngovernmental organizations like the Wisnu Foundation, Manikaya
\nKauci, World Wild Fund for Nature, PPLH and Bina Ekowisata, the
\nproject will harm the environment, especially the West Bali
\nNational Park and the Menjangan island coastal area, which is
\nknown for the beauty of its coral reefs.<\/p>\n
\"A golf course needs huge quantities of fertilizers containing
\nnitrogen and phosphate. These elements, the most appetizing food
\nfor the Acanthaster Plancii larvae, natural predators of coral
\nreefs, will be washed into the sea. When there is an outbreak of
\nAcanthaster Plancii, Bali's most beautiful coral reefs will be
\nfinished,\" said Ketut Sarjana Putra, deputy director of WWF
\nWallacea Bioregion.<\/p>\n
Sarjana Putra has good reason to be worried; a 1996 outbreak
\nof about 400,000 Acanthaster Plancii, which resembles a sea star,
\nspared only 8 percent of the hard coral population.<\/p>\n
Another concern is that Buleleng's natural resources will not
\nbe enough to support the hotel's operations.<\/p>\n
Yuyun Ilham, executive director of the Wisnu Foundation, said
\nthat the hotel would require 17 liters of water per second, the
\nsame quantity needed by 16,600 rural inhabitants, or for the
\nirrigation of 132-hectare rice fields.<\/p>\n
A study by the Udayana University's Research Institute in 1997
\nshowed that the difference between the need for and the potential
\nof water in Buleleng was -109.2 million cubic meters. It will
\nreach -118.6 million cubic meters in 2002.<\/p>\n
\"Buleleng already lacked water two years ago. On a macro
\nscale, the same applies to Bali,\" Yuyun said.<\/p>\n
Concerns have apparently been disregarded by the project's
\ninvestor, PT Ninusa Odijaya, which has applied for a new license
\nafter Bali Governor Dewa Made Beratha rejected the construction
\ndue to the expiration of the old permit.<\/p>\n
Buleleng regent Wiratha Sindhu has taken an ambiguous stance
\non the matter. On one hand, he gave the impression of protecting
\nthe interests of some 400 farm laborer families, who rejected the
\nhotel's construction on the land where they work. But regent has
\nstated his approval of the construction as long as \"it follows
\nprocedures\".<\/p>\n
\"This happens because of the wrong system in developing Bali's
\ntourism, with the emphasis more on mass tourism, going after the
\ntourists and dollars. Another factor is unequal distribution of
\nprofits raised from tourism, making each regency compete to issue
\npermits for hotel development to boost their regional revenues,\"
\nsaid Prof. Dr. L.K. Suryani, one of Bali's most vocal and
\ncritical intellectuals.<\/p>\n
Buleleng's 1998\/1999 regional revenues amounted to Rp 5.6
\nbillion only, of which Rp 1.5 billion was from taxes raised from
\nhotels and restaurants.<\/p>\n
Other regencies earned more revenue. Badung regency, with its
\n463 hotels (20,551 rooms), raised Rp 129.7 billion, of which Rp
\n110 billion was from hotel and restaurant revenues. Denpasar
\nmayoralty gained Rp 46 billion, Rp 33 billion of which came from
\nhotel and restaurant taxes. It is not surprising that Buleleng
\nbureaucrats and some members of the community are gung-ho about
\nthe project.<\/p>\n
Although Badung and Denpasar have allocated part of their
\nrevenues from hotel and restaurant taxes -- 15 percent in
\n1997\/1998 and 30 percent in 1998\/1999 -- to the Bali regional
\ngovernment to be divided equally among the other seven regencies,
\nthe effort has clearly not succeeded in stopping other regencies
\nfrom getting rich by allowing the construction of tourist
\nfacilities.<\/p>\n
\"It will be better if all tourism-related profits are
\nsubmitted to the Bali's provincial administration, which will
\nthen equally distribute them to all regencies,\" said Suryani.<\/p>\n
Currently, tourists used Badung and Denpasar for accommodation
\nand visit tourist attractions located in other regencies, making
\nit reasonable for them to share the profits.<\/p>\n
Without profit-sharing efforts, more megaprojects will show up
\nuntil one day Bali is packed with hotels and restaurants.<\/p>\n
Suryani said there should be a way to select and limit
\ntourists coming to the island, which reached two million people
\nin 1998.<\/p>\n
\"If they want to play golf, tourists should not come to Bali.
\nIt's small and if it is being burden with the construction of
\nmegaprojects all the time and the arrival of millions of
\ntourists, Bali will be decimated either ecologically,
\nsociologically or culturally,\" Suryani said.<\/p>\n
According to a visitor survey by Austindo Marketing Services
\nin 1999, 35 percent of 750 foreign tourists chose Bali for its
\nrich culture.<\/p>\n
\"Balinese culture is the product of a communal-agrarian
\ncommunity that is highly dependent on nature conservation and
\nagriculture,\" said a cultural scholar, Nyoman Gede Sugiharta.<\/p>\n
In reality, Bali's agricultural land is decreased at around
\n1,000-hectare per year and its ecology is ruined. The
\nmegaprojects consume land and pollute nature, thus cutting at the
\nvery resources of Balinese culture.<\/p>\n
\"It's a sort of stupid suicide,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Yet, it is clearly difficult for the activists, intellectuals
\nand critics to persuade the authorities, members of the community
\nand especially tourism operators that Bali no longer needs hotels
\nor other such projects.<\/p>\n
\"If a problem does not directly touch or affect their life,
\nthe Balinese do not care about it. They are not aware that the
\nproblem will eventually affect their future,\" said Putu Suasta.<\/p>",
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