District Parliament Urges Review of 1,000 Daily Visitor Quota for Komodo National Park
The West Manggarai District Parliament (DPRD) has called on the government to reconsider the plan to implement a maximum daily visitor quota of 1,000 tourists to Komodo National Park (TNK). The council believes that this policy, which takes into account the park’s carrying capacity, requires careful examination regarding its impact on increasing West Manggarai’s local revenue (PAD).
The request was included in one of the recommendations from the DPRD of West Manggarai regarding the Regent’s 2025 Fiscal Year Accountability Report. The recommendation was presented by the head of the Special Committee for the Regent’s Accountability Report, Alfridus Ndarung, during a plenary session of the DPRD of West Manggarai on Tuesday, 17 March 2026.
“We urge the government to reconsider the carrying capacity policy for the TNK area, namely the maximum quota of 1,000 visitors per day. A comprehensive investigation is needed regarding the impact of this policy on the potential increase in local revenue,” said Alfridus.
Regent of West Manggarai Edistasius Endi immediately responded by questioning the recommendation. The regent argued that implementing the carrying capacity policy is not within his authority as a regent, stating that such authority rests with the Ministry of Forestry.
“It is not the regent who determines carrying capacity; the Ministry of Forestry does,” Edi Endi firmly stated.
Edi Endi emphasised that DPRD recommendations must be followed up by the regent according to his authority. He confirmed that TNK is managed by the Ministry of Forestry through the Komodo National Park Authority (BTNK).
The Ministry of Forestry, through BTNK, will implement the maximum daily visitor quota of 1,000 tourists beginning 1 April 2026. Currently, the policy is still in a trial phase, which has been running from January to March 2026. BTNK is using the 2018 carrying capacity and capacity assessment of TNK to implement the visitor restriction.
The DPRD has also requested that the Regent fight for entrance fee revenue from Komodo National Park to boost local revenue. West Manggarai’s realisation of local revenue in the 2025 fiscal year reached 286 billion rupiah, exceeding the target of 281 billion rupiah. However, the DPRD believes this achievement is not optimal, as there remains untapped revenue potential.
“We certainly appreciate the government’s achievement of continuously increasing local revenue year on year. Nevertheless, the DPRD continuously encourages the government to innovate in exploring revenue potential by maximising local government assets that are currently underutilised,” said Alfridus.
Alfridus identified the reasons for the non-optimal achievement of West Manggarai’s local revenue. One key issue is that the government has not adequately improved tax and fee collection capacity due to failure to implement digital-based tax and fee collection management.
“The DPRD urges the government to continue fighting for the region’s rights over entrance fees to TNK,” said Alfridus. Additionally, the DPRD also encouraged the government to establish tax payment services in every district.