A US$20 billion plan to build an underground light railway in Indonesia’s Bali has stalled due to wary investors and concerns over land scarcity, throwing into question whether the island’s long-promised solution to solve its notorious traffic gridlock will ever get off the ground.
More than a year after its ceremonial groundbreaking, the “Bali Urban Subway” remains in the feasibility-study phase. Officials once hailed the project as a game changer that would ease congestion and preserve the island’s tourism appeal, but progress has been dogged by financing and land acquisition hurdles.
The venture began with fanfare when the Bali government and Sarana Bali Dwipa Jaya (SBDJ), which oversees the project, launched a Hindu cleansing ritual, or ngeruwak, at the construction site in September last year. At the time, SBDJ announced Sinar Bali Karya as the main contractor, which would team up with another local firm Indotek and China Railway Construction Corporation.
Bumi Indah Prima, a consortium of Indonesian companies, was tapped as lead investor and in December bought land near the sacred Tanah Lot temple from property tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo’s MNC Land for 5.5 trillion rupiah (US$331.6 million).
