TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bali governor-elect I Wayan Koster said the reclamation of Benoa Bay would be canceled and the area would be turned into a mangrove forest instead.

“We will take strict action against all parties that proved to have committed illegal actions in the area, which resulted in the destruction of the mangrove forest,” he said on Friday, August 24.

Koster explained the mangrove planting would take place after he took office, and that the official policy to cancel the reclamation would be issued in September 2018.

He also assured that the conservation plans were different from the initial revitalization plans in the Benoa Bay area.

Koster added Benoa Bay would remain a green zone. "So the barren areas would be reorganized," he said.

Read: World Bank Announces Initial Study on Benoa Bay Reclamation

Koster went on to say that he would issue an official policy after he was installed governor on September 17, 2018, to make sure the reclamation would not proceed. He also said he would send a letter to the central government on the policy.

Koster said the policy would be sufficient to stop the reclamation, even without the annulment of the Presidential Regulation No. 51/2014.

According to Koster, the presidential regulation did not only affect the reclamation of Benoa Bay, but also several areas in Indonesia. He said a gubernatorial regulation was ample to put a halt to the planned reclamation.

"I think it does not take a president [to stop the reclamation]. A governor is enough," he said.

BISNIS