Emaar Withdraws From US$600 Million Lombok Project
Virtually all of this airport project has been run out of Jakarta. The NTB provincial govt and Central Lombok regency are really small fish. I don't doubt that they had their hand out for both the airport and the Emaar project, but they don't hold much power on these big projects. They are poor as church mice.
I have to laugh when I hear Emaar is accusing Indonesia of corruption. That's the pot calling the kettle black. I spent some time in that part of the world and kick-back money (called bakshish) is as common as uang merokok is in Indonesia. I also can't imagine how they spent $4.2 on consultants for the project. I worked on projects like this in my former life as a civil engineer. Honestly, a 1,200 hectar (3000 acres) project is not that complex. Planned resorts of this size are not uncommon in California and Hawaii.
It really sounds to me like the money flowed like water when oil was almost $150 a barrel. Now that oil is back down to $40 a barrel, Emaar's money train just got derailed.
I also do not know why Jakarta is pushing forward on the airport. It's been a project in the planning stage for well over 15 years. I don't understand why they would want to put an international airport in the middle of a sleepy island (other than the land has been bought and paid for). In terms of land size, it is second only to Heathrow! That said, in the future, the islands of Sulawesi, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba and others are attracting more attention on the discussion boards.
It would really be interesting to see if SBY doesn't get re-elected. I think priorities would change fast!
I have to laugh when I hear Emaar is accusing Indonesia of corruption. That's the pot calling the kettle black. I spent some time in that part of the world and kick-back money (called bakshish) is as common as uang merokok is in Indonesia. I also can't imagine how they spent $4.2 on consultants for the project. I worked on projects like this in my former life as a civil engineer. Honestly, a 1,200 hectar (3000 acres) project is not that complex. Planned resorts of this size are not uncommon in California and Hawaii.
It really sounds to me like the money flowed like water when oil was almost $150 a barrel. Now that oil is back down to $40 a barrel, Emaar's money train just got derailed.
I also do not know why Jakarta is pushing forward on the airport. It's been a project in the planning stage for well over 15 years. I don't understand why they would want to put an international airport in the middle of a sleepy island (other than the land has been bought and paid for). In terms of land size, it is second only to Heathrow! That said, in the future, the islands of Sulawesi, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba and others are attracting more attention on the discussion boards.
It would really be interesting to see if SBY doesn't get re-elected. I think priorities would change fast!