48% of Bali Commercial Villas Unlicensed

(5/28/2011)

As reported by Beritabali.com, from a total of 811 commercial villas counted by the Bali Villa Association (BVA) in Bali, only 425 hold the required operating permits with the remaining 386 villas said to be operating illegally.

These figures were released by the chairman of the Bali Villa Association (BVA), Ismoyo S. Soemarlan, speaking at the office of the Badung Regent on Wednesday, May 25, 2011.

”Based on the data on hand, the number of (commercial) villas in Bali has reached 811. From that total, those holing licenses total 425 villas. The rest are illegal,” Ismoyo announced.

Ismoyo admitted that efforts by the BVA to bring illegal villas into line with the law has yet to be optimized. Because of this, the BVA will continue to socialize the law in order to reduce the number of illegal villas in Bali.

Ismoyo continued: “The are four factors which make us have little sympathy for the illegal villas. First, the illegal villas make no contribution to the province in terms of local taxation. Second, they (the illegal villas) do not compete in a healthy manner. They also are guilty of treating their employees as they please and do not properly protect the environment. There is also a lot of criminal activities having at illegal villas because of their poor security.”

The national news service Antara quoted Ismoyo as adding: “Just imagine, there are many villas without licenses erected on fertile land or on the edge of canyons, in rice fields or on the banks of rivers. Clearly this destroys the environment.”