Resort project resumes

JAKARTA (JP): The construction of the Bali Nirwana Resort (BNR) project near the Tanah Lot temple in Bali, which has been halted for eight months, will soon resume after the completion of the study on environmental impact (amdal).

A spokesman for the Bakrie Group, the sponsor of the project, said yesterday that the study has been completed by the Udayana University Study Center.

The chairman of Bali's Amdal Commission, Ida Bagus Ardana, submitted the result of the amdal to Bakrie's executive John Pirtle III in Bali yesterday, he said.

After the ground breaking ceremony of the tourist resort in November last year, the US$190 million project sparked strong opposition from local Hindus because the planned recreation site is too close to their holy places of worship. The government then suspended the tourism project, which will be developed by the Bakrie Group and its British partner, Time Switch Investment Limited.

The spokesman, Mara, also said that the completion of the project, which will include a 300-room hotel, cottages, condominiums and a golf course on the 121 hectare parcel on Bali's southern coast facing the Indian Ocean, will be later than the original target of next August.(icn)