President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has shelved plans for a second airport on Bali. The plan was slated to be built in the northern part of Bali, but like other infrastructure projects, this project has been abandoned.
The plan was for the North Bali Airport to be completed by 2024, but it has been removed from the National Strategic Project (PSN). Other infrastructure projects such as: Tiro Dam in Aceh and the Tanjung Api-Api Economic Center in South Sumatra have also been removed from the PSN.
Whilst this was supposed to be completed in President Widodo’s final year in office, the lack of progress was the main reason for scrapping the plan. Wahyu Utomo, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs’ deputy of regional development and spatial planning, echoed these sentiments, “[the project] had been given a warning for extension, but there is no progress, so it was removed.”
The lack of progress was clearly evident as the land required for the North Bali Airport has still not been procured, ergo the 2024 operational launch deadline being nearly impossible to achieve.
Initiated by private airport construction company PT BIBU Panji Sakti, the airport would have been in Kubutambahan, Buleleng and uniquely been an offshore airport. China Construction First Group Corp. Ltd was set to handle the construction of the new airport.
While some believe it is essential for the island to have a second airport, it is widely thought that the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the government’s focus and priority. While this isn’t the end for the new airport, it currently is not in the plans for the near future.