Tourists visiting Bali’s Kuta Beach must be extra mindful of where they are walking after more intense rain, high tides and storms have damaged the concrete beach walk.
The paved surface has been completely destroyed in places, leaving the walkway dangerous for pedestrians.
Intense abrasion has been recorded across Kuta Beach for decades. The sand is rapidly being eroded away, and now high tides and heavy rains have worked the situation by destroying the beachwalk. The section of beachwalk along the Kuta Sea View are has taken a pounding over the last few weeks.
The Head of the Badung Regency Public Works and Public Housing Agency, AA Rama Putra, confirmed that he and his teams had been closely monitoring the situation and have endeavored to carry out reconstruction works on two occasions. Yet, efforts made to rebuild the beachwalk on Saturday the 3rd of January and Wednesday the 15th of January have been in vain, as on Thursday the 16th of January the pavement was struck again.
Putra told reporters, “The damage this time caused the pedestrian concrete to fall because the sand foundation was eroded by abrasion. The length of the damage in front of Kuta Sea View is 15m, while at several other points in Seminyak and Legian, there was [abrasion] of 2-3cm [beneath the beach walk paving].”
He noted that repairs are further going to be delayed due to flu moon high tides.
Nevertheless, Putra confirmed that the Badung Regional Secretary had provided the heavy machinery required for the repair but that this can only go ahead once sea waters have sufficiently receeded.
Putra concluded, “We have prepared heavy equipment in the field and will make repairs as soon as the tide recedes. We estimate that the [situation] will continue for the next two weeks.”
Bali is now in the height of the rainy season. Disaster reports from the monsoon season so far show that the province is experiencing one of the most devastating rainy seasons in recent history.
With a huge increase in the number of natural disasters reported, ranging from flash flooding to landslides, and an increase in the number of injuries and deaths caused by monsoon-induced natural disasters, the public is being urged to keep the weather in mind when going about their days.
Heavy rain has been impacting beaches across the central south of Bali, and Kuta Beach is not the only resort that has had its beachwalk destroyed by forces of nature.
On the 19th of December 2024, a huge sinkhole appeared along the pavement, car park, and sunset viewing steps at Canggu’s Echo Beach.
Despite the sinkhole destroying a huge section of the walkway, tourists still used what remained of the concrete steps to sit and watch the sunset, much to the dismay of many who felt that such a move was dangerous given the evident instability of the structure.
The sinkhole has since been filled in, but over Christmas week, high tides also dislodged the newly installed beachwalk concrete slabs along Seminyak Beach.
As the rainy season lingers on and more storms and heavy rains are expected over the next two months, tourists are urged to be mindful of where they are walking, and to keep an eye out for broken sidewalks along the island’s most famous beachfronts.
Efforts are underway to conserve Kuta Beach against further abrasion and erosion.
In November 2024, the Badung Regency Government confirmed that it would be constructing a new breakwater to help minimize the amount of sand that is pulled away by the tides.
The work was due to commence at the end of last year, but officials suggested that there were delays in securing the relevant permits to conduct the work.
The work is being overseen by the Bali-Penida River Basin Center (BWS), the Kuta Traditional Village, and is partially funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
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Exp
Sunday 19th of January 2025
Tourists need also to be careful on the roads. A French national on a motorbike was just run over in Canggu and killed in one of the many hit and run cases here in Bali.
Michael
Saturday 18th of January 2025
Always knew this was going to happen unfortunately the concrete pathway was built with little foresight about high tides in the wet season the beach especially down the Kuta end has been washing away for years now and has severe erosion these problems should have been addressed before they rushed into building a footpath a breakwater should have been built waste of money I’ll give it another 4-5 years and the majority of the path will be destroyed and washed away and then they will have to spend more wasted money and resources to clean up the damaged concrete from the beach
Exp
Sunday 19th of January 2025
@Michael, They just spent a lot of money building a new wall between the road and the beach. The old wall was fine but "too tall" for the bigwigs. They spend money on image building and esthetics that is how they prioritize.
Now they will soon face the prospect of loosing this new wall and the beach road.
Steve bm
Saturday 18th of January 2025
Should be an island wide warnings about footpaths etc it's a total disgrace total failure on normal roads. People want to walk
Exp
Friday 17th of January 2025
They build a new beach walk and supported the concrete tiles by using mostly beach sand. No need to install a rock base apparently.
Parts of this beach is slowly eroding away. Nothing they can do with their feeble substandard attempts.
LINK
Shorty
Tuesday 21st of January 2025
@Exp, Left alone beaches erode and regenerate. The problems arise when we try to mitigate or control the cycle. In many cases mitigation simply moves the problem elsewhere.
The Kuta area sidewalk gets damaged a couple of times a year.
Putting a rock foundation would achieve nothing. It would erode and the path woud still collapse.
The simplest solution is to accept it. When it happens top up the base and relay some preformed concrete paving slabs.
Or why even have a concrete path?
Pak Jhon
Monday 20th of January 2025
@Exp, I predicted this would happen on day 1. When did common old fashioned erosion become "abrasion"...?