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Green belt violation in Badung regency and Denpasar city seems to be difficult to control. Hundred of private villas, local residences, and commercial buildings occupied the area which was initially allocated for open space.

The House of Representative (DPRD) of Badung regency identified at least 25 private villas are violating green belt in the area. Secretary of Commission-A of DPRD Badung said that identification was based on observation and report made by the people living nearby. The number only covered private villas, leaving an even higher number of other kinds of properties remained unidentified.

Disappointment of DPRD was getting higher by the fact that the violation seemed to miss the government’s attention. House members even expressed suspecting involvement of government official in allowing the violation by issuing permit for those villas.

The latest case involved a private villas holding construction permit (IMB) No. 1259/2007 located at Banjar Jempinis, Pererenan village, Mengwi. DPRD and the government of Badung regency are still debating the presence of the villa. Whilst the government claimed that there was no problem with the presence of the villa, DPRD believed that the villa violated green belt space.

With regard to other villas, head of Cipta Karya Office, I Ketut Suwandi, expressed his doubt about the validity of data exposed by house member Suweca. Suwandi did not know about violation made by 25 villas, and told that his office has never issued any building permits located within green belt areas. To clarify the situation, Suweca planned to call related government agencies including Cipta Karya Office and administration police (Satpol PP). He said that the government will be asked to clarify the situation. He also considering possibility to enforce punishment to government official which may involved in collusive conduct.

Premises built within the green belt violated local regulation (Perda) no. 3/2005 on space allocation zoning (RTRW) of Bali and national rule (UU) No. 26/2007 on the similar issue. If those villas then proven to violate green belt areas, the government instutution which issued the permit should get punishment.

To balance the story, the government of Badung regency has started to supervise development in its administrative jurisdiction. A number of violations have been followed up. A number of opinions thrown by DPRD Badung has failed to confront the government.

Chairman of Commission-B of DPRD Denpasar, Ir. I.B. Gede Udiyana said that violation to green belt areas in Denpasar were inevitable. He envisioned that increasing number of space zoning violations in Denpasar were caused by numerous factors. He pointed at weak government’s will to enforce regulation as the main factor. When violation arose, the government tended to reluctant to properly enforce the regulation. The situation motivated even more violations, in which situation law enforcement getting more complicated. “The bottomline is weak law enforcement on zoning regulation,” he said.

Other factors include increasing conversion of rice field and other farming land into residential area, which was worsened by continuously increasing number of migrants entering Denpasar. “Needs of housing could not be neglected,” he said.