The director of PT Tirta Rahmat Bahari, I
Nyoman Swianta, finally broke his silence over the company’s plan to
manage a large tract of mangrove forest in south Denpasar as a tourist
attraction. He pledged that the project would not inflict any damage on
the forest, a critical part of the coastal ecosystem. Turning the area
into a responsible ecotourism attraction, he argued, would save the
forest, which is currently threatened by piling garbage, instead of
destroying it. “Of course, we won’t destroy the mangrove forest. It
[would be] very stupid, as our business is in the forest. Instead, our
company will launch several programs to save the mangrove forest,”
Swianta said on Thursday night to Bali Daily.
In June, Bali Governor Made Mangku
Pastika officially issued the permit for the company to manage 102.2
hectares of mangrove forest for 55 years. The local administration
agency, tasked with managing that tract, had admitted it lacked
sufficient funds and manpower to deal with the garbage and decaying
infrastructure. The tract is part of south Bali’s 1,375 hectares of
mangrove forest. The permit and plans have triggered strong opposition
from environmentalists and local councilors, who suggested the investor
would destroy the forest. Swianta said that his company plans to build
dozens of wooden gazebo in the forest as accommodation facilities and
that the company had received permits to build a maximum of 75 in the
mangrove area.
“We will only build the gazebo in
existing empty spaces, without cutting down the mangrove trees. Not a
single mangrove tree will be cut,” he stressed, adding that is was
likely that the company would build less than 75 gazebos. A restaurant
is also planned to be built in the mangrove forest. “It will not be a
big restaurant. It will be a small food stall, with people eating in
separate small wooden gazebo in the area. As I told you, we will only
build wooden buildings in an empty spaces,” he said. “The restaurant
will only sell fast food such as bakso [meatball] or similar food. We
will not be cooking in the forest area, and plan to reduce the use of
plastic packaging. So as not leave any waste in the forest,” Swianta
added.
PT Tirta Rahmat Bahari will also maximize
the function of the mangrove forest, promoting it as an area for
fishing and canoeing activities. “We will make sure that the tariff …
will be affordable for local people, as we are targeting locals and
domestic tourists rather than foreign tourists. We hope more locals will
spend their holiday in the mangrove forest rather than in malls,” he
added. Moreover, the company plans to carry out rehabilitation and
beautification programs before building the facilities. “Our priority is
improving the environmental conditions of the forest,” he said.
Nowadays, the forest faces mounting problems such as garbage levels, as
well as damage sustained across a large part of the 1.4 kilometer wooden
paths that serve as walkways.
About 30 percent of the tracks,
constructed back in 2003 by the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA), are now in dire need of renovation. Graffiti is also another
issue yet to be tackled. The garbage comes not only from irresponsible
littering visitors but also from the Badung River and from the spacious
garbage dump site nearby. It has been reported that garbage collected
from the mangrove reached an average of four trucks per day. “Our main
task is collecting all the garbage to save the forest. If we didn’t
solve this problem immediately, the garbage will hinder the growth of
the mangrove plants or kill them,” Swianta said, adding that he will
recruit dozens of personnel to assist in the collection of the garbage
as well as manage it on a daily basis.
“We had already started the project to
repair the wooden path soon after the governor permit was issued. We
were forced to stop the project due to protests [from
environmentalists]. We have just finished roughly 30 meters of the path.
We decided to wait and see, before we continue the project,” Swianta
said. PT Tirta Rahmat Bahari also plan to provide trash bins and toilets
in the forest area. “The area has no available trash cans, a fact that
forces the visitors to throw their garbage to the forest,” he reflected.
Swianta finished by saying that, “Profit is not our main purpose.
[First, we want to] save the mangrove forest and provide a place for
people of Bali to spend their holiday in nature. It would be much better
for our younger generation to spend their holiday in the nature,
instead of in the shopping malls”.
source : bali daily
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