Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said he continued to oppose the idea of allowing a geothermal exploration project in the protected forest area of Bedugul in Tabanan district.
“I continue to reject the idea as did the previous Bali governor,” Pastika said here Tuesday.
Pastika said he was consistent with his initial attitude (of rejecting geothermal explorations in the Bedugul forest area), although the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) had recently mentioned Bedugul as one of 28 conservation forest locations in Indonesia with significant potential geothermal energy sources that could be explored by private parties.
Meanwhile, I Gusti Ngurah Wiranatha, head of Bali province’s forestry office, said ecological studies had shown that geothermal exploration activity in Bedugul’s conservation forest area would have an impact on other aspects of the region’s environment because the Bedgul forests were the culmination point of the region’s entire ecosystem.
“Technically, geothermal explorations in the area are not possible,” he said.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik in a statement on the results of an energy-related meeting during the ASEAN Summit in Nusa Dua on November 13-19, 2011, had said the government would soon permit geothermal explorations in 28 forest conservation areas in Indonesia, including one in Bedugul, Bali.
Jero said he had already discussed the matter with Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan.
