Bali announces hotel crackdown after tourism blamed for deadly floods

Singapore/Bali: Indonesia will ban the construction of new hotels and restaurants on Bali’s untouched land and farming plots after linking tourism-related overdevelopment on the holiday island to the recent floods that killed at least 18 people.

The flash flooding on September 9 and 10 has been described by locals in the capital, Denpasar, as the worst they have seen. In addition to the island-wide death toll, which is expected to rise into the low twenties as four people remain missing, hundreds of families have been displaced.

On Thursday, rain caused more – albeit less severe – flooding, including in tourist hotspots such as Kuta.

Bali’s provincial government first backed a moratorium on some new developments last year, saying rampant growth from tourism has exacerbated chronic infrastructure problems.

But plans for a ban of a year or two – and possibly up to 10 years – were shelved amid disagreements and elections.

Re-elected governor Wayan Koster said in January that problems associated with overdevelopment could be managed with tighter controls rather than a complete stop.

But the catastrophe this month has tipped Koster and the national government into imposing an indefinite pause on new developments on farming land and in forests.

“I have given instructions to the regents and mayors,” Koster said, casting the moratorium as a strategic measure following the floods.

“After the flood management is complete, we will meet again to ensure that no new permits that violate this policy are issued.”

It is believed that developments on land already approved for construction can continue.

The moratorium has the support of Indonesian Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, who said the Ayung River Basin, which encompasses Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan, had lost 97 per cent of its forest cover to development.

“If only 3 per cent remains, its capacity to withstand extreme rainfall is clearly very low,” Hanif said.

Denpasar regularly floods at the beginning of the wet season because the drains are blocked with rubbish and sludge. But the floods this month were extreme.

“I have lived in this home my entire life, and it has never flooded that high. Ever,” Wayan Sundri, 85, said.

“The floods usually just go up the riverbanks. It has never gone into my house.”

Clean-up efforts to remove 210 tonnes of flood waste were continuing, Koster said.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.