Bali will secure financial support from the central government to build a road connecting south Bali and the north part of the island. Deputy Governor Anak Agung Puspayoga recently said the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) had agreed to provide Rp 1.7 trillion (US$175.6 million) to partly finance the project. “We have had a meeting with Bappenas officials, during which they agreed to finance the project for Rp 1.7 trillion and required the Bali administration to also provide at least Rp 170 billion,” Puspayoga said.
He said the road connecting south and north Bali, which is scheduled to be built by 2015, would be a shortcut from Denpasar to Buleleng as it would cut the travel time by a half. Some local businessmen have urged the government to immediately realize its plan to build the road to improve less-developed areas in the north of the island. The provincial administration is planning to build four toll roads connecting these areas: Soka-Tanah Lot-Seririt, Denpasar-Soka-Jembrana, Canggu-Beringkit-Purnama and Goa Lawah-Karangasem.
Feasibility studies for the projects have been completed, and now the administration is waiting for approval from the central government on funding schemes. The Bali administration aims to complete the road prior to the development of the island’s second airport in Buleleng. “If the road can be built and operated according to the plan, investors will be more interested in developing the airport,” the deputy governor said. Since the development of the projects will require land being acquired from local residents, tourism practitioners have called for a fairer and more favorable scheme for the locals.
Bagus Sudibya, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Business Association (GIPI) suggested that local people should be given a chance to be shareholders in the projects. “We shouldn’t let local residents be marginalized,” he said, referring to a condition in which local people sold their land to middlemen or to investors to make way for projects, but then finding they had no long-term benefit from the projects. He cited the development of the Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC) area, established in the 1970s in Nusa Dua, as an example of a project that marginalized local residents.
“We shouldn’t repeat the implementation of a similar scheme.” For the upcoming projects, including Buleleng airport, he suggested that the Bali administration approach local residents, invite them to be shareholders and establish a company under a clear regulation. “By implementing such a scheme, local people will not lose their land and they will benefit from the projects and improve their livelihoods because they are part of the investors,” Sudibya stressed.
A lack of supporting infrastructure, including roads that connect South Bali, where Ngurah Rai International Airport is located, with other parts of the island, has been blamed for a growing gap in the distribution of wealth among the island’s residents. Three of the island’s richest regency-level administrative regions lie in south Bali and their self-generated revenues (PAD) heavily depend on taxes paid by tourism related-businesses. As these three regencies thrive due to money brought by the lucrative tourism industry, other regions in the island are struggling to cope with poverty and unemployment.
source : bali daily
source : bali daily
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