The promise by new Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto to deliver a North Bali Airport and transform the island into a ‘New Singapore’ have alarmed those in the island who believe the island is already over-developed.
A government official later clarified the president’s remarks, saying “Prabowo's vision does not mean changing Bali into a new Singapore but rather adopting the modern and advanced airport designs of Singapore and Hong Kong for the planned North Bali International Airport.”
However, during a visit to Denpasar last weekend, the present reaffirmed his commitment to build the North Bali Airport and appeared to double down on his earlier comments about making Bali the new Singapore and Hong Kong. “We will be the centre of this region,” he said.
Critics of the new airport have included politicians, academics and social media netizens.
Bali governor Wayne Koster told local media: “It's pointless to build an airport if access to it is not developed. An airport could be completed in five years, but if the roads are inadequate, it will not function and could become a waste, similar to the underused Kertajati Airport in West Java.”
Putu Anom, an academic from Udayana University in Bali, said that transforming Bali into the new Singapore or Hong Kong of South-east Asia could have potentially disastrous impacts “and risk destroying everything that makes the island so unique”.
The on-again, off-again North Bali Airport project would be bigger than the current I Gusti Ngurah Rai International airport, serving 32 million passengers annually in its first phase.