Buleleng focuses on living up to its potential

Buleleng accounts for Bali's largest regency, but due to inadequate infrastructure, a great deal of its tremendous economic potential has yet to be tapped. The Jakarta Post's Novan Iman Santosa and Moch. N. Kurniawan visited the regency and filed the following report.

Although the northern regency of Buleleng is the largest in Bali, that does not mean the area is the richest.

Most of the regency's population of 580,000 is scattered throughout the 136,588 square kilometers of land -- some 24 percent of Bali's total area.

Once the capital of Lesser Sunda province, now the provinces of Bali, East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara, the city of Singaraja lost its significance when the Ministry of Home Affairs decided in 1960 to make Denpasar the provincial capital after Lesser Sunda was divided into its three current provinces.

The southern part of Bali has become the new economic center with the development of the Nusa Dua tourism resort, Ngurah Rai International Airport and a new road linking Gilimanuk with Denpasar.

Since then, business in Buleleng has declined. The centralized policy of the central government has only worsened the situation.

The Denpasar mayoralty and Badung regency, which encircles Denpasar, reaped the biggest benefit out of the decision to move the capital from Singaraja to Denpasar.

The enactment of Law No.22/1999 on regional autonomy on Jan. 1, 2001, gave Buleleng a chance to regain its glory after it became the second poorest regency in Bali in terms of its income per capita.

In 2000, Buleleng's income per capita was only Rp 3.1 million (US$352.27), while Badung's stood at Rp 8.9 million, Denpasar's at Rp 5.9 million and Gianyar's at 4.98 million, according to statistics.

Most of Buleleng's income is derived from the tourism and agriculture sectors. And now the Buleleng administrations are ready to exploit its underutilized natural resources.

"We will optimize our natural resources and tourism potential to attract new investments. It is the best thing to do for our people," the Buleleng Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head, I Nyoman Yasa, told The Jakarta Post.

Buleleng Bappeda has divided the regency into three development zones: the western, central and eastern zones.

"Dividing the regency in an east-west direction allows each area to fully take advantage of the resources here," he said.

"Each development area will have their own share of mountain and beach."

Despite its abundant resources, Buleleng has yet to take full advantage of them.

"We have, for example, the longest shoreline in Bali, which stretches for about 144 kilometers, and a huge fisheries potential, but there are only a few investors in this field," said Yasa.

"Buleleng also has various tourist destinations that could be further developed. In agriculture, we also have vast coffee and clove plantations as well as vegetable and fruit cultivations."

"These sectors are waiting for investors."

Should investors come, he said that his office was prepared to speed up their licensing process to start business here.

Following the relocation of Bali's capital from Singaraja to Denpasar, most investment projects on the island were located in the southern part of the island, such as Badung and Denpasar, which offered a better infrastructure, such as an airport, roads, electricity and telephone lines, making the area more developed.

The provincial administration, however, has decided to close tourism-related investment in Denpasar and Badung so that other regencies can develop their tourist destinations.

Yasa said that the Buleleng administration would start offering the Batu Ampar area in the western part of Buleleng, which has a less developed beach, the West Bali National Park, the ancient villages of Pedawa and Sidatapa and its hot springs.

"But the are only four hotels in the western region. It still needs a lot of hotels there, but we also have to lure more and more tourists to come here," he said.

The only developed beach is Lovina in the central development area, which is known for its dolphin show and black sand.

Yasa said Lovina beach would soon be declared closed for new investment, which would open the door for other beaches to be developed.

There are also plans to develop tourism spots in Buleleng's eastern part, such as the ancient village of Sidatapa.

The regency will also offer its potential fisheries sector, which has many kinds of fish, Yasa said.

In agriculture, Buleleng can also offer investors prospective areas to grow grapes, mangoes, strawberries and rambutan, he added.

"Buleleng has become one of the major fruit suppliers and there are so many other opportunities to be explored by investors," said Yasa.

"Buleleng is such an ideal place to grow grapes. In fact, it is the only grape producer in Bali. We will also continue to develop our leading commodities of coffee and cloves."

The regency has been able to keep its lead in the coffee trade due to the shift of coffee blend from robust to a new variety.

To help investors, Yasa said Buleleng had adequate facilities, such as roads and electricity.

"Seventy percent of our regency's roads are paved, and 90 percent of the area has electricity. In fact, our infrastructure is quite developed," he said.

Yasa also said that the regency planned to upgrade its Lt. Col. Wisnu Airstrip, built in 2000, to make transportation easier and faster. At the moment, only 12-seater Cessna airplanes can land on the airstrip.

"Once it has been upgraded, we can expect more tourists to come here directly," he said.

Despite the optimism, Buleleng regency secretary, Nyoman Sukarma, expressed fear that Buleleng's efforts to lure investors would be in vain, as the regency faced problems in meeting the increasing demand for electricity and telephone lines.

Despite the current availability of electricity in Buleleng, he said, the regency, which is included in the Java-Bali interconnection power grid, could suffer power shortages starting in 2004 as would other areas, if there are no additional power plants built in Java or Bali.

He said people in Buleleng found it difficult to get a phone connection, forcing them to use phone kiosks or cellular phones.

"We can develop new roads with our budget, but the policies of state-owned electricity company PLN and state-owned telecommunications PT Telkom regulate the electricity and telephone lines," Sukarma said.

"I'm afraid our efforts to lure investors will be useless without a clear policy from the two state-owned firms."

Separately, Denpasar-based economist I Nyoman Erawan suggested the central government to make "a big push" in allowing further development in northern Bali.

"Without such incentives, the northern part of the island will remain less developed. But this is not only the responsibility of the Buleleng administration.

"Most of the decisions lie in the hands of the provincial administration and the central government," he said.

Since the regency is mountainous, Buleleng does not have ample space for rice cultivation like its neighbors to the south. The condition is worsened by the fact that its land is too dry to be suitable for growing rice.

With these geographical drawbacks, in addition to its historical background, the people of this area have had to be tougher than those from the south.

Buleleng, which ranks second after Denpasar in terms of a high crime rate, is struggling to overcome its security problem.

"Security is very important, not only for tourists and investors, but also for the locals," Buleleng Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Safei said. "It's my duty to ensure the people's safety and security and we're doing our best. Thank God, there has been no significant crimes."

The police cooperate with the local pecalang (traditional security guards) to keep the regency safe.