Bali Leaders Issued Police Summons Over Uluwatu Sea Wall Project

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As construction continues on the Uluwatu Sea Wall project, local leaders confirmed that they have been in communication with Bali Police regarding the community’s concerns about the development’s legality.

The Head of Pecatu Traditional Village, which is the local authority for the resort area of the Bukit Peninsula referred to as Uluwatu, revealed he attended police summons late last week.

The Head of Pecatu Traditional Village, Made Sumerta, revealed on Wednesday, September 18th, that he attended police summons last week. He was invited to speak with Bali Police to offer clarification on the activities taking place at the construction site on the Uluwatu clifftop. 

As revealed by Nusa Bali, a letter dated 10th September 2024, and signed by the Acting Head of the Sub-Directorate of the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Bali Police, AKP Sulhadi SH as an investigator, was addressed and sent to the Head of Pecatu Traditional Village.

The letter requested that he bring along the regulations, the status report of the sacred area of the Luhur Uluwatu Temple, and documents on handling the cracks in the cliffs of the Luhur Uluwatu Temple.

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Sumerta has since met with reporters and confirmed, “Yes, I just went there (Bali Police) on Friday. I conveyed it as it is.”

However, he revealed that he had not received feedback from Bali Police as to whether the documents and updates he issued were satisfactory. 

According to Sumerta, all relevant socializing of the Uluwatu Sea Wall Project, as a conservation project to preserve the cliffside from cracking further, had been completed prior to work starting.

The community of Uluwatu, including local residents, business owners, regular surfers, and tourists, have all expressed deep concerns that the project has started without sufficient public consultation and without the publishing of an environmental impact report, known in Indonesia as an AMDAL. 

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Sumerta explained,  “The local government has socialized it through the service and so on. In the traditional village, as much as possible, I am there as the representative. The stages must be [a Hindu ceremony]. The first is penyanding, then keruak, next is pekelem, it is followed by residents, and there are other invitations.” 

In very simple terms, the penyanding is a traditional Balinese ceremonial offering, keruak is the offering of food cooked in a traditional clay pot, and pekelem is the offering of an animal sacrifice. 

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According to updated information from the Badung Regency Department of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) published in local media this week, the Uluwatu cliff crack project is officially working on more than just the cliff stabilization.

As reported by Nusa Bali, the Puru Luhur Uluwatu cliff crack project is now focusing four sub-projects, which will include roads to the beach, coastal revetment, handling of the cliff under Pura Luhur Uluwatu, and renovation of Pura Beji. 

Previous statements issued by officials have only focused on the cliff stabilization work. A CGI video of the Uluwatu Sea Wall was circulated online.

Yet statements from top officials until this point have always been issued in reference to work on stabilizing the cliff crack, not for the development of a public-use beach road, simply an access road for the construction team to conduct the cliff stabilization work. Sumerta himself has stated that the project will not yield commercial benefits.

The shifting scope of the project has been a huge cause for concern for local residents, environmental activists, and tourists.

Video footage from the construction site has shown diggers, excavators, and trucks dumping tonnes of limestone debris into the ocean.

By Tuesday, 17th September, half of the cliff side had been cut away, with fears that much of the debris had been dumped in the ocean below, impacting local marine life and the world-famous Uluwatu surf break. 

In response to complaints from Uluwatu residents regarding the dumping of limestone debris, the Head of PUPR Badung IB, Surya Suamba, issued a statement to confirm, “We will try to work by preserving the local coastal conditions. Previously, there was an operator error that dumped material into the sea, and we have warned them. If it is found again, we will stop it.”