‘A new Singapore or Hong Kong’? Indonesia to build Bali’s second airport amid scepticism

Joint development between local and Chinese firm, which is investing US$3 billion, has support of President Prabowo, but some Balinese are unimpressed

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Passengers at I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport in Bali, Indonesia. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 11:15am, 15 Nov 2024

Indonesia is pressing on with a plan to build a new airport in Bali, a development that the government hopes would turn the resort island into a “new Singapore or Hong Kong” but locals are not sold on the idea.

The fate of the project, based in northern Bali to complement the existing airport in the south, has been uncertain for years until new President Prabowo Subianto earlier this month vowed to revitalise it.

On Wednesday, PT Bandara Internasional Bali Utara (BIBU) Panji Sakti, a local developer that floated the airport plan in 2016, announced it had teamed up with Chinese firm ChangYe Construction Group to develop the project in northern Bali, with the latter investing US$3 billion.

“We are very interested in the North Bali International Airport project. In addition to its global popularity, this project also adopts a balance between nature, humans, and God, while maintaining local cultural values. This is a very unique airport concept,” Yu Xueze, presidential director at ChangYe, said in a statement.

Bali, Indonesia’s top travel destination that welcomed 5.2 million foreign tourists last year, only has one airport on the island’s southern part. It is not uncommon for visitors to be stuck in cars going from the airport to hotels due to clogged roads around the surf beaches of Canggu, Kuta and Seminyak.

Flights at I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport are also at times disrupted by volcanic activity from Mount Agung and most recently, ash from Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in neighbouring East Nusa Tenggara province severely affected aviation operations.