Warna Warni Bali |

Wayan Sasag Budiman (paling kanan) bersama Gubernur Bali Made Mangku Pastika di depan gubuknya. (photo by: Ni Komang Erviani)

Ni Komang Erviani, The Jakarta Post, Bangli | Tue, 12/20/2011 12:00 PM

A four-square-meter shack belonging to I Wayan Sasag Budiman in Kalanganyar hamlet, Yangapi village, Bangli regency, seemed wobbly. There were holes in some parts of its bamboo, wicker walls and zinc roof.

The picture of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been put up along the front part of the shack, with pictures alongside of the national emblem Garuda Pancasila and the War of Independence hero, Gen. Sudirman.

Only two meters from the shack, however, there is a newly built, semi-permanent house made of concrete blocks, with a cement floor and asbestos roof.

The house, built using corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from Bali’s regional development bank (BPD), has two 6.25-square-meter bedrooms, a bathroom and kitchen. The house was still empty, without any furniture.

“I am so grateful because now I have a very nice house,” said 62-year-old Wayan Sasag after he received the key for the new house from Governor Made Mangku Pastika on Sunday.

The widower, who has two children, is one of four impoverished villagers in Kalanganyar hamlet who have received better dwellings through the provincial administration’s renovation program.

Three other houses were funded by the provincial budget, while one house used funds from the BPD Bali. The fund is managed by the province’s Coordinating Board of Social Welfare Activities (BK3S), a semi-government organization chaired by the governor’s wife, Ayu Pastika.

“There are still four other villagers in our hamlet living in houses that are not fit to live in. We hope the administration can extend the program, so that all villagers here can have decent houses,” said the hamlet head, Nyoman Suweca.

The house renovation program for the impoverished households is one of Governor Pastika’s pet projects. The other projects are the Bali Mandara, which provides free, universal healthcare for all registered residents on the island, and the Simantri integrated farming system, aimed at transforming the island’s agriculture into an organic, green and energy-independent entity.

Under the program, the provincial administration has renovated 3,118 houses since early 2010. As many as 468 houses were funded by CSR programs held by private companies in Bali. There were 825 houses built using the provincial budget in 2010, and 1,825 houses this year.

BK3S chairwoman Ayu said it was not easy to ask companies to disburse their CSR funds for the program.

Ten private and state-owned companies have joined the program. “We don’t give up. We keep trying to approach companies in Bali to disburse their CSR funds for this program,” she said.

Pastika emphasized that this program is part of the efforts to eradicate poverty in Bali. He said that by renovating their houses, it is expected that people can improve their livelihoods.

According to data from the Social Services Agency in early 2010, there were 13,000 houses listed as uninhabitable. “Living in houses of substandard conditions could harm residents’ health, meaning they would not be productive; thus they could not improve their livelihoods. We start by renovating their houses, then give them healthcare insurance. We also try to provide jobs for them,” Pastika said.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/12/20/house-renovation-program-gets-support-companies.html

photo by: Ni Komang Erviani

Ni Komang Erviani, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Fri, 12/16/2011 8:04 AM

While Bali has experienced healthy economic growth recently, reaching 5.83 percent in 2010, the island faces economic inequality problems resulting from the growing gap between the haves and have-nots, the governor says.

“We fear that this inequality will cause social jealousy, which could lead to social unrest,” Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said on Thursday.

The provincial statistics agency’s data from 2010 shows that the island’s high-income earners, who account for only 20 percent of the population, have enjoyed a growing share of the expanding economy. The remaining 80 percent of the population, meanwhile, has had to face a steadily shrinking share of the pie.

The remaining population includes middle-income earners (40 percent) and low-income earners (40 percent).

Around 42 percent of Bali’s revenue is enjoyed by its high-income earners, while 37 percent is distributed to middle-income earners and only 20.75 percent goes to low-income earners. This means the results of Bali’s economic growth have been enjoyed largely by high-income earners.

However, Made added that the widening economic gap was a common phenomenon among countries experiencing rapid growth, and assured that the government was working to reduce this gap.

The inequality of development between the south of Bali and other parts of the province has greatly contributed to this economic gap. Tourism development, for example, has been largely concentrated in the south of Bali, particularly in Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar. A survey released last year by the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association shows that Bali has 2,260 star-rated hotels, 88.5 percent of which are situated in the south of Bali.

“Therefore, I reiterate that there should be a moratorium on the development of hotels in Bali’s south, and the focus should be moved to other areas so we can have equality in development,” the governor said.

The moratorium has in fact been in place since early last year. However, it has not always been strictly adhered to by regency administrations.

“I can’t prevent regency administrations [from approving hotel developments], because I don’t have the authority, but I have asked the investment agency to divert investment to other areas,” Pastika said.

He emphasized that one of the solutions to address the gap was to select investors and only provide permits to those who could make meaningful contributions to the island.

The government has various programs aimed at reducing the economic gap, including its pro-poor, pro-growth, pro-job and pro-environment programs.

Pastika cited Simantri, an integrated agriculture program that has helped hundreds of farmer groups in Bali.

“We also provide programs for health and education to improve the quality of our human resources.”

Despite the widening economic gap, people in Bali still have better welfare than the populations in other provinces across Indonesia, such as East and West Nusa Tenggara.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/12/16/bali-struggles-reduce-economic-inequality.html

APEC venue proceeds, despite opposition

Ni Komang Erviani, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Thu, 11/03/2011 10:46 AM |

Despite mounting opposition from students and environmental activists, the plan to construct a mega-resort for the venue of the 2013 APEC summit moves forward, as Badung regency started processing the permit for its construction.

The project is estimated to cost US$280 million and is expected to be completed by mid-2013 before the summit in November, in what is known as the Bali International Park (BIP).

On Wednesday, the regency administration met with representatives of PT Jimbaran Hijau to review a presentation from the developer about the BIP development.

“The developer has proposed the permit. They should first present their plans for the project to the Badung regent,” said the regency’s spokesman, Wayan Weda Darmaja.

Weda said the developer had proposed the permit months ago but the regency could not process the permit because some requirements had not been fulfilled.

The requirements included completing the process of transferring the land-use rights from PT Citra Tama Selaras, the owner of the land, to the developer as well as the payment of land and building tax of
Rp 7.2 billion by the developer. All the requirements have now been fulfilled by the developer.

Weda said the regency administration needed to hear a presentation from the developer to gain a complete picture of the project.

“We need to know what they will build and whether they have fulfilled all the requirements before we issue the permit.”

However, the regency administration would still consider opinions from the public about the project. He said that despite mounting opposition, his office had also been urged by many parties to speed up the process.

“Some are against the project, while some have urged us to speed up the process. We will consider all opinions. The most important thing is that the company fulfills all the requirements.”

 The regency administration’s decision to process the BIP’s permit triggered opposition from Gumi Bali Forum, an organization of students and environmental activists.

On Wednesday, 10 activists held a demonstration at the Sudirman junction to voice their opposition.

The activists, from Bali Environmental forum (Walhi), Frontier Bali and Udayana University, brought posters expressing their opposition to the development of the BIP.

They demanded that the regency administration refuse the permit. They also demanded greater transparency on tax paid by PT Jimbaran Hijau to the government.

Their third demand was for the regency administration to implement the government regulation on the use of abandoned land on the 174 hectares of land on which the BIP would be built.

Activist Abdul Haris said the development of the BIP would spark many problems.

 “The project has violated, among other regulations, the moratorium on the development of tourist accommodation in the south of Bali.”

Earlier this year, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika issued a moratorium on the development of new hotels in south Bali as the area already had too many hotels, and in the hope that development projects would be diverted to poorer regions in northern and eastern Bali.

Haris also criticized the acquisition of land from PT Citra Tama Selaras by PT Jimbaran Hijau, in which the latter company should have paid tax of 10 percent of the land’s value.

Link: http://m.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/11/03/apec-venue-proceeds-despite-opposition.html

Ni Komang Erviani ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  DENPASAR   |  Thu, 02/26/2009 1:59 PM  |  Bali

Cooperatives in Bali received Wednesday a financial boost with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the provincial administration-owned Regional Development Bank (BPD) and the Agency for Revolving Fund Management for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (LPDB-KUKM).

The agency was established in 2007 to act as a kind of central bank for cooperatives lending money to their members. Read the rest of this entry »

Ni Komang Erviani , Contributor , The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Fri, 01/02/2009 10:29 AM | Bali

Niether the financial crisis nor the Australian travel warning stopped tourists from spending Christmas and New Year in Bali, as the island once again broke its own record for highest number of visitors.

According to a report by the Christmas and New Year holidays’ task force , as many as 133,705 tourists, both domestic and international, entered Bali via the Ngurah Rai International Airport between the 22 and 30 of Dec., an increase from 125,000 in the same period last year. Read the rest of this entry »

Okezone - Rabu, 26 Maret 2008 - 16:55 wib

DENPASAR - Rencana pemerintah menjadikan Bali sebagai pilot project untuk pemberlakuan kebijakan pembatasan bahan bakar minyak (BBM) lewat program smart card, diprotes pelaku pariwisata Bali. Pemberlakuan smart card dinilai akan menghambat kesuksesan Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

Okezone - Rabu, 26 Maret 2008 - 15:19 wib

DENPASAR - Minyak tanah bersubsidi di Denpasar mulai ditarik, menyusul rampungnya pembagian elpiji dan kompor gas gratis di dua kecamatan. Untuk tahap awal, kuota yang ditarik sebesar 25 kilo liter per hari. Penarikan minyak tanah bersubsidi akan dilakukan bertahap sampai pembagian elpiji rampung di seluruh Bali. Read the rest of this entry »

Okezone - Senin, 24 Maret 2008 - 16:51 wib

DENPASAR - Setelah penyetopan operasionalnya pekan lalu, AdamAir Wilayah Denpasar masih menyisakan kewajiban merefund tiket yang sudah di tangan konsumen serta deposit dari sejumlah travel agen. Nilainya tak tanggung, mencapai Rp1 miliar.

Kewajiban sebesar Rp1 miliar tersebut berasal dari kewajiban mengembalikan deposit milik sejumlah travel agen yang menjual tiket AdamAir senilai Rp500 juta. Sisanya merupakan kewajiban me-refund ribuan tiket yang sudah ada di tangan konsumen. Read the rest of this entry »

Okezone - Senin, 24 Maret 2008 - 16:38 wib

DENPASAR - Rencana pemerintah menjadikan Bali sebagai pilot project untuk pemberlakuan kebijakan pembatasan bahan bakar minyak (BBM) lewat program smart card, ternyata belum dikomunikasikan ke daerah. Meski demikian, PT Pertamina Cabang Pemasaran Denpasar sudah bersiap-siap menerapkan kebijakan itu. Read the rest of this entry »

KUTA – PT Bakrieland Development mendadak serius mengepakkan investasinya di Bali. Dalam tahun 2008 ini saja, Bakrieland berencana melaunch tiga proyek invetasinya senilai total Rp.880 miliar. Padahal sejak 1980, Bakrieland hanya berinvestasi pada Bali Nirwana Resort, sebuah hotel di Tabanan Bali. Read the rest of this entry »