Bali gets a facelift ahead of conference
Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua
Starting May 27, Bali will be host to the biggest international meeting ever held on the island -- with more than 6,000 delegates from all over the world.
Well-known as Indonesia's most prominent tourist destination, Bali has hosted numerous international meetings and events, but this time is be different. With so many participants and only three months to prepare, all parties involved in the meeting seem to be a bit nervous.
It was President Megawati Soekarnoputri's decision to move the United Nations-sponsored Global Ministerial-Level Preparatory Committee Meeting (Prep-Com) IV for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will be held from May 27 to June 7, from Jakarta to the Bali International Convention Center (BICC) in the opulent Nusa Dua resort area, about 30 kilometers south of Denpasar.
A member of the Indonesian delegation to the meeting said the sudden venue move made things very difficult, since everything already had been prepared in Jakarta.
But Inez Sukandar from Royalindo event organizer said they were working to make the best preparations possible in the time allotted.
"It is very challenging to organize such a big event and bring together thousands of participants. We have to fully coordinate with all related parties in the UN, the national committee and the local committee from the Bali provincial government," Inez said.
The choice of venue in the isolated Nusa Dua resort area was considered appropriate since it has a world-class convention center, representative five-star hotels and beautiful ocean views. And officials can easily control the security arrangements because delegates will stay within the resort complex.
The general manager of the Sheraton Nusa Indah Resort and the BICC, Michel Cottray, said all facilities, including meeting rooms and business and media centers, had been renovated to cater to the needs of the delegates and foreign and local media.
"In supporting the communication needs, BICC has invested Rp 102 million for broadband facilities for fast Internet, e-mail and telephone access in all meeting rooms and business centers," the general manager said.
Levie Martin, the public relations manager of the Sheraton Nusa Indah Resort and the BICC, added that the security system at the resort had been beefed up, with additional cameras added and an alarm system installed, which will function 24 hours.
I Wayan Harianta, the head of PT Telkom's Bali office, said an additional 300 lines of copper cables and two-system fiber optics would be tested on June 24, in preparation for the meeting.
"We are 100 percent ready to provide the delegates with adequate telephone facilities," said Wayan Harianta.
The state-owned oil company, Pertamina, will also provide 12,000 kiloliters of non-emission gasoline during the 10-day conference.
"It is just the beginning of the use of more environmentally friendly energy in Bali," Wisnuntoro, the company's Bali office head, said.