… The plant [a coal-fired power plant on 40 hectares of north Bali’s coast] has three units totalling 426 megawatts of capacity, and produces up to two-fifths of Bali’s electricity. The addition of two units would more than double the plant’s capacity to 1,086 megawatts. But in this remote part of Bali, 100 kilometres north of the tourist hotspot of Denpasar, farmers and fishers have not experienced any benefits.

In a 2018 report, Greenpeace found inadequate compensation for land acquisition, damage to local livelihoods and health, and harm to the environment on land and at sea.

The plant was built by PT General Energy Bali, which is majority owned by China Huadian Engineering, (Singapore-based) Merryline International Pte. Ltd, and PT General Energy Indonesia. The latter’s shares are now controlled by PT Singa Energy Indonesia. State-owned China Development Bank provided a loan of around US$700 million and Export-Import Bank of China also invested, according to Quitcoal.

… Director of PT General Energy Bali, Tjandra Limanjaya, and his wife Irnawati Sutanto were imprisoned for fraud after falsifying a bank guarantee letter from state-owned Mandiri Bank to secure a loan from Morgan Stanley…

There were also suspicions about the involvement of illegal labour from China in the plant’s construction and operation. The Buleleng Manpower and Transmigration Office found Chinese labourers lacking work permits.

In January 2018, three local residents launched a legal action backed by Greenpeace to stop the plant’s expansion. The case was rejected by the Denpasar State Administrative court, a decision upheld on appeal at the Surabaya High Court. An appeal in the Supreme Court was also rejected in July this year…

Greenpeace air pollution expert Lauri Myllivirta has stated that the plant’s environmental impact assessment failed to fully explain or provide data on the effects of mercury pollution. The heavy metal is toxic to health even in low concentrations… 

Mercury may fall along with coal ash directly into the sea or into groundwater. Contaminated water could then drain into the Lovina coastal ecosystem, impacting marine life, and fishers’ catches...

The Greenpeace report also mentions high emissions of fine particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from the power plant. These pollutants increase the risks of respiratory and heart diseases, and other illnesses…

In response to the complaints, the governor of Bali, I Wayan Koster, has asked the Celukan Bawang plant operators to switch coal for a less polluting fuel, such as gas…

chinadialogue’s requests for comment from PT General Energy Bali and China Huadian Engineering went unanswered.