By AFP - Agence France Presse
Indonesia halts the development of property that would house Trump's real estate.
Officials said Friday that the Indonesian government has blocked a billion-dollar real estate development on the outskirts of Jakarta that was to include luxury properties branded by US President Donald Trump. The government cited environmental damage as a reason for the blockage.
The MNC Lido City project, an entertainment park by a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned construction company Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), included hotels, residences, and a Trump-branded golf course.
The ambitious agreement was signed between MCC and Indonesian entertainment company MNC Land in 2018.
The area, planned to be part of a “world-class integrated tourism” resort, was to be backed by up to $500 million in loans from the Chinese government.
But Indonesia's environment minister, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, ordered the suspension on Thursday after a field inspection uncovered several violations.
Senior ministry official Rizal Irawan told a press conference on Friday that the project's “deforestation activities allegedly caused sedimentation and shallowing in Lake Lido”.
Satellite images from the ministry showed that the size of West Java province's Lake Lido has fallen by more than half since construction began - from 24.7 hectares (61 acres) to 11.9 hectares.
The authorities also found significant discrepancies between the approved environmental plans and the actual construction by MNC Land's Indonesian subsidiary, PT MNC Land Lido.
The government will impose administrative sanctions, Irawan added.
PT MNC Land Lido argued that sedimentation had occurred before the company took control in 2013.
“The sedimentation or shallowing, as alleged, occurred before PT MNC Land Lido took control of the Lido area in 2013, which can be proven by the existence of aerial photos from 2013,” the company said in a statement quoted by Indonesian news agency Antara.
The company said it began construction in 2016 with one of its objectives being to combat sedimentation.
The project is a key part of the development of the 3,000-hectare special economic zone.
It was not planned for Chinese companies to be directly involved in the construction or financing of the Trump-branded properties.
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