Is Instagram ruining #Bali? | Foreign Correspondent
[Music] Bali Sun Surf and spirituality your [Music] mou cheap shopping and cold beer a getaway Paradise is now rapidly transforming from holiday makers to digital Nomads from hotel stays to long-term Villas thousands of them rising up and reshaping the landscape of Indonesia's most famous island barley is going through a building boom you have a lot of celebrities coming to Bary uh it's like the Asian iiza so people love it the natural beauty that draws millions of admiring each year has also brought cashed up foreign developers determined to make barley the world's playground from extravagant mini cities we're printing our bus stops with the 3D printer to the plane absurd there's even a jacuzzi in the cockpit a building boom is pumping up Barley's economy but not everyone is happy as a bines how does that make you feel well the destroy the beauty of the island we've gotten some threats through some of the reporting that we've done what sort of threats death threats The Barley many know and love is at a construction Crossroads can the island of the Gods maintain its roots and cultural charms Amid overdevelopment and under regulation [Music] riding a bike along the uatu coast in Bley South quickly reveals the changing face of this island if you haven't been to Barley for a while it's pretty exteme extraordinary what's going on here everywhere you look it's clear this island is in the midst of an unprecedented property boot signs of development are everywhere two bedroom two bathrooms looks like five new Villas here all offering dream investment opportunities 10 12 16 24 Villas and units on this [Music] one every time I come back to Barley I am just shocked by how quickly things are changing here it kind of feels like every second person on this island is selling their lot and cashing in [Music] [Music] Arthur Richard is the new face of the new barley young European and ambitious the 26-year-old French real estate agent has been living and selling property here for 6 years as a senior sales rep for one of Barley's fastest growing property companies the Ukrainian owned Alex Villers so are these the finishing touches yes absolutely and now we're going to go to a town house so it's a one-bedroom unit with eight large scale projects across the island business has never been better so welcome to one-bedroom Town House in complex 5 oh wow it's it's very modern it's very instagrammable instagrammable yeah instagrammable lot of #b #b real estate #b property everything has to look good on Instagram for these Villas 100% it's very important for us if I want to buy something like this in Bley roughly how much will it cost um I guess now based on 2024 it will be around $200,000 uh depends also on the quality of material $200,000 that's all yeah that's all for a a for town house like this year it doesn't sound compared to other countries it doesn't sound like much no it's not too much right that's the beauty of B you can reacquire like good properties at a reasonable price Alex Villas doesn't just build the Villas they make everything from their own concrete to the furniture even their own tissue boxes you have a lot of celebrities coming to B uh it's like the Asian ia uh at the moment so people love it the Asian IA Asian the people call barley that I I hear it's that quite a lot yeah some locals we've spoken to say that there's a land grab going on is is that true B will always uh develop itself to welcome more and more tourism we work with all the local communities so they don't see it as a takeaway from them they see it as an opportunity to develop their Island [Music] there was a time when barley wasn't developed in the 1960s it was a secret spot for Surfers by 68 a new international airport was unveiled and by the '90s a string of five-star Resorts made barley the goto destination for a couple of years Co shut the and off from the world now Barley's property Market is making up for lost time and it seems there's nothing particularly bines about it one Russian developer recently put a 737 on a cliff toop if you really want to spend the big bucks in barley this is what you get a private two-bedroom Villa it cost $4,000 a night it comes with your own personal Butler morning morning oh this is the back of the plane but there's nothing economy about this you've got a shower you've got your bath and of course a pretty good view other developments have been accused of environmental destruction Builders of this 116 room residence on the uluwatu coast caused an entire Limestone Cliff face to collapse they did suspend this project for a little while but now it's full steam ahead what is clear is that progress is outpacing infrastructure in this part of barley there's no piped water or electricity the roads here are poor but that's not slowing demand [Music] and it's not just the main island 40 minutes boat ride away on newa panita I'm meeting Barley's most outspoken voice against excessive development one two three lelu galantic is a political rockar and barley Senator everybody seems to know you in barley why does everybody greet you and and take selfies with you because they believe that I'm their hope and people they choose to come to me to share their sadness to share their problems to let me know that Bali is not all right Neu has long taken up the fight over the appalling roads on this island but today she's more worried about the coastline this is the road going to clinking Beach and and this is the everyday few as you see thousands of people come here to see the beauty of clinking Beach [Music] killing king Beach is a mecca for instagrammers once voted the most beautiful beach in the world most tourists stay at the top getting down isn't easy yes we need to go down that way take a small path all the way so oh down there down there so it will take maybe around 20 30 minutes to go down oh yeah to help get more people down to the beach the local Village has brought in a Chinese company to build this a 182 M High elevator and viewing platform that will soon Tower over one of Indonesia's most beautiful beaches a permanent addition to bring even more tourists to this Instagram hotspot some here support it because of the increased business it will bring but not [Music] Neo would you once it's built would you ride on the glass elevator no never never never that's how strongly you feel about it never never never I I I'm I'm I'm I'm a very gratitude person when it comes to Nature so no not Over My Dead Body no neou says the elevator is part of a broader problem in Bley a build at all costs mentality by the politicians in charge it's so simple you know it's so simple to take care of this island but it has been over the years and over the years and it's getting worse it is not getting better you know the rich are getting richer my my duty is to wake them up and to slap them in the face and to let them know you have a [ __ ] job to do you know [Music] so why am I suspended in the air on a bicycle above rice patties well this tourist attraction is is actually one of the best ways to see what the property boom is doing to Barley's food bowl this is Uber long seen is one of the most stunning and Serene parts of barley and it's here where the property developers are really musling [Music] in Ubud is rice country the patties here are among the most stunning sites in Bley and for developers they've become the number one Target building and selling villas with uninterrupted views of rice patties is considered the ultimate real estate prize here [Music] [Music] how many apartments here about 20u in totalu 20 Apartments like Village yes oh okay okay [Music] these Villas have been built on Rice patties the first six will open by Year's [Music] [Music] End the the greenness of Ubud I would say like 80% is gone chak ridia is a conservationist and Ood local he's been researching the impact development is having on Bar's precious food bowl how much agricultural land is being lost through my observation uh the reality is minimum 1,000 hectars per year per year yeah absolutely yeah turning into Villas and hotels yes farmers are giving up growing rice very little income and sell the land tons of money people are cashing in yes and chakra doesn't have to travel far to see the impact Farmers cashing in is having on the landscape 100 m from his house is this an entire residential estate built on land that was once rice patties wow this is quite a big site yeah about three hectars so noisy every night man yeah and you're just just there right there yeah how do you feel about this what can I do I mean I I'm not happy of course but there's uh there's nothing I can do about everyone saying like how nice it was when it rise field but it's too [ __ ] late man like now it's all this cement now all the development the influx of people from overseas foreign investors what does this do culturally to Bary uh culturally it will be uh basically just uh uh I would say poisoning poisoning the culture but that's just our culture we learn the hard way unfortunately just a few kilometers away we find father of two e man laia he Farms a rice field that's been in his family for more than 300 years nman has had many offers to sell but so far he's holding out y's latest offer came four months ago his refusal to sell Spart a flurry of insults in the future if this area is developed into concrete vill how will you feel getting a slice of barley isn't hard but buying it is with few exceptions foreigners can't buy land here so all these projects that are popping up they're actually long-term leases after three four maybe five decades the land has to go back to an Indonesian owner albeit with a block of units on it I think some people see b as overdeveloped and some others say it's still okay maybe the next future like it's going to be really packed but for now like you still have a lot of land available in the coastal hot spot of chungu ARA from Alex Villas is Keen to show me their latest project built next to Farmland it's another big development 89 89 yeah it's quite a lot a lot big project big project over 4,000 sare M of land in total so it's quite big but over there do you know what the future will be for the neighboring Farmland areas are they going to become Villas too or you're not sure yet right now we're in a green zone from our understanding so there is no way anything been built for now that might [Music] change it's not like there isn't regulation in barley about where you can and can't build there are designated green zones to prevent construction on agricultural land they seem to be a bit flexible though sometimes local authorities are willing to rezone the green space for a building project other times people just start building without a [Music] permit late last year Ukrainian developers the tyanne group unveiled plans for a five-star development by the beach the proposed Dragon inspired design caused outrage from those desperate to preserve B's traditional style I remember seeing it was like a s floor building building that looked like you were in Dubai and not in Bali French filmmaker and longtime Bali resident Gary bener Gibb was among the first to react there was a couple of 100y old trees on the project that they cut down right as The Cutting was happened we flew our drone um really to trit to show how we're destructing our beautiful body Gary has lived in baliy since he was nine he's an environment mental campaigner who has documented the changing landscape of baliy during his 20 years on the island from a sight perspective we did some videos and yearby year you see almost like a virus spreading and it's it's shocking to [Music] see everybody wants a piece of paradise everybody wants the best view everybody wants a a river ocean front racefield view when you take videos and publish them of projects going on here is it safe for you to do that um we've gotten some threats through some of the reporting that we've done what sort of threats uh you know like uh death threats and that's when you sort of slow down and realize that um yeah we're we're not in this to to upset anyone development will always happen on the island but there needs to be infrastructure there needs to be zoning [Music] rights it's selection season in barley some politicians are proposing a temporary ban on new development in some tourist hotspots but it's just an idea for now hello P yes nice to meet you yeah bill from foreign correspondent sit down thank you a and anawa is the Deputy head of bong the district that covers most of B's popular tourist regions for is there a land grab going on in barley to have so many foreigners buying and leasing land is it good for the bines what sort of punishment is there for developers that go Rogue [Music] while Villa developments rising out up throughout barley the really big players are now building many cities a few kilometers from changu is Bar's biggest and most ambitious project the futuristic city of nuanu it's the brainchild of Sergey suenan a 52-year-old father of six and Russian Tech ton nice to meet you sery nice to meet you too there's a bit of a burning man about this place yes that's where the idea began at Burning yes at Burning Man over there you can see we we just started to put the big 3D printer from China so we are printing buildings also here and then we have a lot of SAS different kind of SAS so it will be like a uh experiential park with different types of uh treatments s is building his own 50 hectare Utopia when finished it will feed sound healing spaces rest and just be yoga studios a hotel Villas and even an alpaca farm this is pretty epic bamboo yeah yeah bamboo is quite High here so this is uh our restaurant and Beach Club I was not uh sure to name it a beach club actually because we're very different from other beach clubs that you can find in barley and sergey's personal favorite you see you can slide it's quite fast actually a water slide straight into a swim up bar I did it of course I was the first were you scared it looks a little bit quick yeah it was quick I was I was uh thinking that it will be too slow actually and then when I will build it it was very [Music] despite its size nanu hasn't attracted criticism Sergey has pledged to only build on 25% of the land instead of the 60% he's allowed by law how much did you invest in this project well I think total investment will be around 400 350 400 million uh but it of course it's not only me there are a lot of investors when you first told people in barley your vision what did they think of you and what you were trying to do I think they were thinking damn crazy and still think that I'm crazy because it's it's a complicated project so I think you can feel it already right something magical happens here [Music] and it's parties like this where the magic is on Full display a 3-day festival called suara it's happening like wow it's happening just 3 years after you see What's Happening Here sergey's vision for a burning man style Community is coming to life and most importantly for Sergey a change to Barley he believes is for the better get this feeling of surprise and uh and and that's what I want something you will really like something you will maybe hate but I want this emotion I want I don't want you to be neutral but I have emotion about that and uh and surprise [Music] there are few places in the world that offer Val's way of life it has the traditional the modern and now the new age but for those who have long called This Island Home witnessing this change is difficult just how do you protect the Island's Heritage at a time when so many want a piece of it [Music] I think it it's very difficult to to remain optimistic with with how body is developing I think we're almost losing Paradise every day every second when another tree is being cut down with another Rice Field is being taken over for a concrete V Bal is the only place we have you know and well they destroy the beauty of the island there there are some other way to make uh to make money but again money offer love right [Music] [Music] [Music]
2024-09-19 13:47
