Stop the Building in the Name of the Law

(4/29/2012)

Nusa Bali quotes the chairman of the Bali Chapter of Association of Indonesian Tourism (GIPI), IB Ngurah Wijaya, as calling for an urgent implementation of the 2009 Zoning Law (RTRW).

“The new provincial law should not only been seen but also felt, as this current situation will only serve to increase the number of restaurants and hotels and other forms of illegal accommodation,” said Wijaya speaking at a seminar on the RTRW held at Bali’s Udanyana University on Tuesday, April 24, 2012.

He told the attendees at the seminar that the implementation and enforcement of the new zoning law is needed to curb the uncontrolled growth now taking place in Bali. Wijaya complained that the regencies and municipalities are only seeking to increase tax revenues through the quantity of new projects with little regard for quality of those developments.

Bali Tourism Spokesman Calls for Full Implementation of New Zoning Law

The head of GIPI in Bali also bemoaned Bali’s shift to regional visitors staying for brief periods of time and away from longer-staying higher-spending visitors from Europe and America.

He sees this development as tied in part to the declining quality of the Bali tourism product. To preserve Bali’s attractiveness as a tourism destination, Wijaya see the RTRW’s enforcement as essential to the island’s future. Rule on set backs from shorelines and religious site are needed to help Bali move forward as a destination for spiritual tourism.

He also sharply criticized the reluctance of regents in Bali to accept the provincial zonings law, preferring to administer their own rules in their own way. He said all of Bali must conform to the provincial rules with legal steps taken against administrators and structures violating Bali’s RTRW 2009.

Source: BaliDiscovery.com