$3 billion islands project for Bali’s Benoa Bay

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A developer is proposing a $3 billion project to create artificial islands in the middle of Benoa Bay for a massive tourist destination with luxury villas and a theme park.

A model made by property company TWBI of what the Benoa Bay reclamation might look like. Photo: Supplied

The subject is so politically sensitive that a Balinese Forum Against Reclamation (ForBALI) panel session was cancelled at the Ubud Writers Festival last year, along with events that discussed the 1965 anti-communist massacres.
“The people who hold power don’t want this issue to be discussed,” says ForBALI coordinator Wayan “Gendo” Suardana, who was scheduled to speak at the festival. “They don’t want international attention.”
Benoa Bay, near the international airport, was earmarked as a conservation zone in 2011. However a presidential regulation, signed by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2014, changed its status.

Folk musician Man Angga, of the group Nosstress, is one of the vocal opponents of the proposed Benoa Bay development. Photo: Amilia Rosa

The regulation permitted activities to “revitalise” the area, which is fringed by rubbish-choked mangrove forests along the coast. It also allowed the reclamation of a maximum of 700 hectares of water, which amounts to half of Benoa Bay.
Tirta Wahana Bali International, the property company behind Bali’s Discovery Mall, has proposed a massive tourist development.
Nusa Benoa – a cluster of artificial islands separated by canals – would include a shopping arcade, luxury villas and townhouses, eco chalets, a business district, a marina, a water theme park and – possibly – a Bali culture amusement park.

Village head Ida Bagus Suteja says communities were not consulted on the Benoa Bay development proposal. Photo: Amilia Rosa

TWBI adviser Hendi Lukman says Bali already has beaches, cliffs and lakes but the one thing it doesn’t have is canals. “We are hoping to be like Venice,” he says. “The canals would be for fishing, watersport. The whole concept we are trying to create is a new destination.”
On February 16, the heads of 14 bendesa (traditional villages) around Benoa Bay submitted a petition to Indonesian President Joko Widodo opposing the development. Locals’ main concerns are it will cause flooding and destroy 70 sacred Hindu places. These include temples, streams and muntig – small spots of land exposed when the tide goes out, each with their own names, where the Balinese place offerings at certain times of the year.
“No one ever approached us or involved us,” says the head of Kepaon village, Ida Bagus Suteja. “Our area faces backwash (backward flow of seawater) every time the tide is in already, now they want to fill (the bay) up, they want to build islands. What will happen to us?” he asks.
“The islands will be filled with facilities. Meaning more people, that will come with their own new problems. With the current situation, we are overcrowded as it is.”
Gendo says locals are also scarred by past experience with a reclamation project on Serangan, also known as Turtle Island. It was expanded to three times its original size by dredging sand from the ocean floor.
The change in wave patterns eroded Sanur beach, one of Bali’s most popular tourist spots. “Cemeteries and temples on the beach got washed away, as did some houses in villages,” Gendo says.
TWBI director Heru Wasesa says he has tried to address community concerns.
He says the islands will be lower than the surrounding area. “The islands would be the first to be flooded,” Heru says. “I said: ‘If we can guarantee the islands will be lower and there will be no flooding, will you support us?’ They gave us no answer.”
Nusa Benoa is aimed at a market currently not being catered for in Bali, Heru says, and would not compete with existing hotels on the resort island. The project would provide 150,000 jobs, with local people prioritised.
“We will build a fisherman’s cove, where fishers can sell their fish better,” he adds. Heru even promises to create an evacuation ground for the public on one of the islands as protection against a tsunami.
TWBI says it is committed to revitalising the entire bay, including cleaning up the Tahura Ngurah Rai mangrove forests, which are swamped with toxic rubbish. “We will keep the area clean,” Heru says. “If there is garbage no one will come. It will be beneficial for everyone.”
But this has not stopped a groundswell of opposition. Boldly designed ForBALI posters, a red fist stamped over the island, are plastered all over the streets of Bali. Protests are held almost every week.
The high-profile movement has galvanised artists and musicians including Jerinx from Balinese punk band Superman is Dead, Gede Robi Supriyanto from psychedelic-grunge band Navicula and Man Angga from folk band Nosstress.
“The Balinese are fed up and they are finally unifying to express protest against rampant development,” says tropical garden designer Made Wijaya, an Australian expat who has lived in Bali for decades.
“Imagine filling in Sydney Harbour – it’s pretty radical. It’s going to become like, heaven forbid, South Florida, with fake waterways and cheesy houses. And the last thing we need is more traffic in south Bali. It’s mindless environmental vandalism.”
TWBI already has a location permit. The company is hopeful the government will sign off on a revised environmental impact analysis as early as Monday, which would give it the green light to proceed.
“The government is the only one who can stop us,” says Heru Wasesa. “If the government says yes, we expect people to accept it.”
But ForBALI coordinator Gendo says the Bendesa Adat (traditional village heads) are all ready to commit puputan: “They’ve felt like that since the beginning, they are now quite angry.”