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Plan to slug Aussie taxpayers millions for Bali Peace Park as site owners demand compensation

Source
Sydney Morning Herald - May 7, 2019

James Massola, Denpasar – The owners of the site where the Sari Club once stood are demanding $14 million, including $9 million in compensation, before they hand over land for the construction of a Bali Peace Park.

The demand for additional compensation, which comes in the middle of the federal election, potentially puts extra pressure on Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten – both of whom have quietly promised the Bali Peace Park Association millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to help purchase the land, which was the site of the 2002 Bali bombings.

The new demand for compensation from the owners of the site, which has stood vacant since the 2002 attack by the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group, has threatened to derail a deal that is close to being clinched after more than a decade of negotiations.

The owners recently revealed they planned to construct a five storey restaurant on the site, which would include a monument to those who died on the fifth, top storey.

Construction of the restaurant is due to begin Thursday but the area's local bupati (mayor) Nyoman Giri Prasta is due to meet Lila Tania, a representative of the land owners, on Wednesday and will request a stay on construction.

Bali Peace Park Association chairman David Napoli and his lawyer Peter Johnston met Lila Tania, who represents site owner Sukamto Tjia, in Denpasar on Monday and it's understood that Tania met Bali Governor Wayan Koster on Tuesday over the controversial development.

They finally agreed on a sale price of about $4.9 million for a 700 square metre block of land, which is in Denpasar's popular beachside suburb of Kuta.

But in another twist to the long running saga, the site's owners also asked for about $9 million in financial compensation for the income they will forego if the restaurant complex is not built.

Napoli said he was very reluctant to even entertain that claim for compensation and that after meeting Nyoman on Tuesday, he was encouraged because the mayor had indicated he would "work very actively to secure the Peace Park site for us".

"I think he will make it very difficult for her [Lila Tania] not to agree to it."

Napoli recently met Morrison, who has described the proposed restaurant development as "deeply disturbing", when the Prime Minister was on a campaign stop in Perth.

He said the Prime Minister had indicated to him the Australian government was prepared to consider making up the shortfall in money raised by the Bali Peace Park Association to buy the land.

Morrison said Australia's consulate in Denpasar would keep working on the case to resolve it and "get the right outcome", but he added the government was not prepared to be "taken for a ride, either" – a thinly-veiled reference to the request for extra compensation.

In a separate communication, Napoli said Shorten had offered bipartisan support for any funding deal that was struck and that it would be delivered if Labor won government, too.

The association has raised close to a million dollars from donations since it was established and to date, federal and state governments have promised close to another million dollars to find the memorial.

In practice, that would mean the Australian government would have to spend at least another $3 million to pay for the site to be purchased – and potentially several million more – to build the peace park, before the new compensation claim was even factored in.

If a deal is not done by Thursday, when the restaurant construction is due to start, Napoli is prepared to walk away from negotiations and give up on the project entirely.

It's understood that governor Koster has flagged with the current site owners a new plot of land a couple of kilometres from the bombing site in exchange for the Sari Club land, to try and help smooth the way to securing the deal.

Back in 2010 the site owners had asked for more than $20 million, but that price has come down in recent years to about $5 million – a figure that the association had still not been able to meet.

The 2002 attacks on the Sari Club and the nearby Paddy's Bar killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

The proposal to build a memorial on the fifth storey of a restaurant complex sparked fury from some of the survivors of the bombing.

But some locals supported the development of the restaurant complex as it would provide employment, because the site is a dirt car park and an eyesore, and because there is a memorial across the road.

Morrison recently spoke to President Joko Widodo, and his office did not deny the Peace Park had been discussed. His office would not comment on the negotiations over the land when contacted for comment.

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/sari-club-owners-surprise-10-million-demand-for-compensation-for-peace-park-20190506-p51kow.html

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