JakartaPost-Sept 19, 2025
Authorities in Bali have suspended the operations of a construction materials factory owned by a Russian national after discovering that the facility was allegedly built on a protected mangrove area. The factory, located on Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai in Sidakarya, Denpasar, is operated by Eco Crete, a company that claims on its official Instagram account to be “upcycling coal waste materials into low-carbon concrete for construction.” Authorities say the company supplies construction materials for hotel and villa projects across Bali. The alleged violation by Eco Crete was uncovered during an on-site inspection on Wednesday by a special task force from the Bali Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) focusing on spatial planning, licensing and regional assets. “We found that a company owned by a Russian national had converted approximately 2,800 square meters of mangrove land into a construction materials factory. During our inspection, the staff were also unable to present the necessary legal permits for the building,” task force chairman I Made Supartha told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. Supartha said the inspection was carried out by the special task force on Wednesday in response to the deadly flash floods that struck Bali last week, claiming at least 18 lives and leaving four people missing. The task force surveyed riverbanks along major rivers across the island, from upstream to downstream, including the protected mangrove zones near Bali’s southern coastlines. “We found around 200 instances of violations where buildings were constructed along riverbanks in violation of existing regulations, covering hundreds of hectares,” Supartha said. These mangrove areas, he explained, serve as natural flood barriers, forming part of a green belt at the downstream end of several rivers and playing a crucial role in protecting Bali’s southern region from flooding. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2025/09/19/bali-shuts-down-russian-owned-factory-built-on-protected-mangrove-land.html.
