Ceremony marks the official completion of the village

It has been many years in the making, but finally on Friday 5^th July 2013 the community was able to hold a ceremony to officially open the new village.

Last minute preparations started the week before with promises that the local government would finally finish the new mosque. As the days drew closer, it was obvious that this would not happen. With no ceramic floor and the building still unpainted, OBRI once again stepped in to ensure the ceremony would continue.

Embarrassed by their inability to function professionally, transparently and with any understanding of schedules, the Bupati and his senior team did not accept OBRI’s invitation to celebrate the community’s success in relocating to the new village.

Martin Gow CEO of OBRI was guest of honour at the celebration along with the Camat. In his speech he congratulated the community for their support and hard work in helping making the new village a reality. ‘This is not the end of our journey together, but the beginning’ he told a packed mosque.  But he warned that the government needs to take responsibility quickly to fulfil its obligations to the community and to OBRI.

Later he added, ‘International investors and hotel operators are watching us in Lombok. The regional government needs to be very careful how it handles large investors like OBRI. With a 120m USD investment ready to start and two 5-star hotel operators ready to work with OBRI, the ongoing delays by various departments, especially the BPN need to be investigated.’

To celebrate with the community, OBRI provided a cow to sacrifice, food, drink and transportation for the guests. As always, there was also a bag load of footballs and candy for the kids!

Let there be light!

With the community settling into their new homes, one job outstanding was to provide solar energy to every home. This had the dual benefit of not relying on the national power company to extend the power supply and providing the community with clean and free energy.

 

As usual, in the eight months since OBRI started the final phase of the village construction (Oct 2012), nothing got done by the regional government departments. As a result the community is left in the dark.

With the tenders only recently completed, the contract to build the solar farm and network the village with power has been awarded.

While the contractor is now at the village, it will be about a month before the system is fully working. To help solve the problem, OBRI sent in a team to rig up temporary street lighting for the community.

Company Representative for OBRI Pak Ahim was please to supply a generator, LED floodlights, 400 meters of cable, posts and the fuel to run the genset.  ‘This is a temporary measure to help the community at night’, he said. ‘We hope the contractor is able to finish on schedule but with the official opening of the village on Friday 5^th July we needed to step in and help again.”

There was a party atmosphere at the village on Saturday as the OBRI team got the light working just as the sun was setting. Special thanks to Pak Yasin of organising the team. 

Community move a success

Having formally taken possession of their new homes in May this year, the people from Gili Sunut wasted no time in relocating to the mainland.  

But it was no easy task as everthing from furniture to the local shop had to be packed up and taken to Teangah Anjah village. At low tide families worked together to carry heavy furniture over the sand bar to the mainland and a waiting van. From there it was a bumpy one hour drive to the reach the new village.

One by one Gili Sunut was emptied of families and the mainland village filled with the sound of the kids exploring their new homes.

OBRI was on hand to help and ensure that their new homes were up to standard.

With all 109 families relocated, our attention turned to organising the formal ceremony to bless the village and welcome everyone to their new homes.

Plans are now well underway to host the ceremony on Friday 5^th July. Before then, there are a few last minute jobs to complete including street lighting and tiling the floor of the new Mosque.

We will keep you posted as preparations take shape.

Time to play ball

This week’s visits to Sunut also involved the customary delivery of more footballs.

On Saturday, Martin Gow presented the kids with another bag full of balls, boxes of water and candy.

But with the sun scorching down, there was only time for a few relay competitions with two aspiring teams. The winning team having the privilege of eating all the snacks we had taken to the island for lunch. 

New security for Sunut

With the villagers packing up their belongings and preparing to move to their new mainland homes, it was time for OBRI to reveal its new security measures.

The handover of the house, keys and some cash meant OBRI had completed its obligations with the Regional Government. So it was fitting that new security signs were erected around the island to ensure no one trespassed on the land.

Two days after signing with the community, OBRI revisited the island and with the help of the villagers put up these warning signs on the beaches.

Permission is now required to access the island. As an environmentally responsible company the signs also remind would-be visitors to respect our land and the wildlife.

Additional security patrols will be working 24/7 from next month. 

The villagers final get their new homes

Good News.  On 16^th May 2013 the community and regional government were finally in a position to start the relocation process.

Community leaders came to the Camat’s office on the mainland to discuss the move and then to sign their individual agreements that would allow them to move.

At the meeting the status of the mosque was discussed and the Camat promised the new building would be finished within 7 days.

With so many families involved, it was agreed that the signing ceremony would continue on the Island everything was boxed up and transported to Sunut.

There, the old mosque was converted into a notaries office with 109 families pouring in to sign for their new homes, receive their keys and count the cash OBRI provided to help them move!

By the time we were finished it was dark and the boat journey back to the mainland proved to be another fun experience no one would forget. With the tide at its lowest point, we were forced to wade over half a km in the dark from the boat to reach the mainland.  

Behind the scenes it was a difficult situation with the regional government again. Petty bureaucracy, red tape and no one capable of take responsibility for the process mean OBRI had to push everything through. The agreed deadline had been 11^th May, so you would expect all departments to be ready. Once again, it was not the case with one letter missing that everyone knew was required. Well it was the election season so there were better things to do that actually working. 

New mosque at Teanjah 2 takes shape

Thanks to the Public Works Department, workers are at the village building a number of vital facilities.

The mosque is now 75% finished and the Camat has guaranteed that it will be completed before 25^th May.  This photos shows construction about a week ago. The new mosque is located at a strategic point at the entrance to the village. It has been a long time in the making, with the regional government slow to get its act together.

This delay has also frustrated the community who have this week decided to help with the construction. With their new found building skill from helping complete 109 houses, if anyone can get the mosque finished quickly, they can!!

New road to Sunut rolls along

The new road continues to be upgraded with a hot-mix surface on it. You can also see in these images the concrete electricity poles that are being installed along the route.

The sides of the road are filled with compressed hardcore to ensure that the edge of the raised road is not damaged. 

The regional Camat confirmed that while progress was slow at the moment, the budget was in place complete all 12 km this year. 

This is good news for all the communities along the road as it will improve access for them, especially in the rainy season! 

Lombok gets a new village

Finally we are please to tell everyone that the construction of all 109 houses has been completed.

It’s a great landmark for the community and for Ocean Blue Resorts that funded the project. The community and OBRI were all please at the news that this phase of the project had been completed. But there were mixed emotions.

After months of delays and overruns, massive over spending on the budget and the usual administration silly games, the celebrations will have to wait.

Why you all scream? After 4 years of building!!  Time for some hard facts and hopefully the right people reading. OBRI’s job was to build 109 houses. The regional gov’s job is to build a mosque, school, provide electricity and water. Simple really. This is my job and this is yours.

If the regional administration had actually put a schedule together at the same time that OBRI started building thing would be different. The community need their Mosque and everyone knows that they will not move to the new village without one being built. Despite requests in October last year (5 months ago) by OBRI to create a time line to construct all that the villagers need, the administration wait until OBRI has finished building. So now even though OBRI has done its job and the houses are completed, the community cannot move in.

Not a good story for this election time in Lombok. And the excuses are typical. Ie.. It’s the election time so everyone busy. It’s the end of the financial year. And the best one...We were waiting to see if OBRI would actually finish the houses.

For once, the CEO of OBRI was not available for comment, but this is a hot story that needs to be told. Watch this space. 

New hot-mix road starts

From Geluk Buso to Tiangah Ringgit is a worn out old track. But, with Ocean Blue Resorts and other hotels opening along this route the Bupati has allocated the Government budget to complete upgrade this 12km.

In March, true to the Bupati’s word the construction company moved in and started work. This will be a new trading highway for the community who will be able to access the new road and reach the markets of nearby villages.

Along with the road, the new power lines are be install. In the photos here, you can see the new poles and road widening. Gone (hopefully) are the road floods and inaccessible villages in the rainy season.

Let’s just hope that the Regional government actually finishes the road. This is Indonesia after all!!  

Windows to the future

There is a team of craftsmen that have been working in Selong, East Lombok of months now, hand making every window and door for the new village.

Martin Gow along with Pak Yasin were invited to visit the workshop on the outskirts of Selong to see firsthand the scale of the job in hand.

All 436 windows are individually measured to fix a specific house. At the specially built workshop the raw timber is sanded, cut to size and tooled for assembly.  The window frames are then spray painted to match the same colour as the outer frames on the houses. And finally all the glass is cut and  inserted into the finished frame, ready for delivery.

With only a team of 5 craftsmen, they have been working till midnight most nights to stay on schedule.

Now that’s dedication.   

Lombok people and the community spirit

It’s been a few months now since the bad weather and the road brought disaster to the village. But like all good communities, the Sunut people showed their true spirit.

Now March, and the weekly visits to the project show that we are close to completing. With the damaged houses being rebuilt, thanks to additional funding from Ocean Blue Resorts, it was time to celebrate the people and the efforts the builders are making to transform the 8 hectare building site into a real village.

Here are a few candid shots of the people that deserve the real praise. Whatever the weather throws at them at this time of year, the builders push on.

There is now a lot of frustration about the delays to completing the village. Simple things like the paint needed to waterproof the exterior and wood work are promised but never appear. And there is no news of the new Mosque being started. It’s a great pity to be finishing the houses to find that the government has not even started the school and mosque. 

 

Storm damage in Lombok

While images of Jakarta flooding fill the news headlines, our own project was also suffering from the severe weather.

On its weekly inspection tours of the new village, OBRI was able to inspect the damage. Five houses were destroyed in high winds. It was a huge blow to the project and moral. Having worked so hard and fast to stay on schedule, this was a major set back for the builders. 

With the rains continuing and the access road also damaged, rebuilding the houses would not be a simple task.  Plus there was the additional cost to worry about.

Fortunately no-one was injured when the winds ripped through the houses and sent them crashing down.

 

Seeing all the problems with rain, road access and lack of materials, it became clear that there was only one solution. CEO Martin Gow concluded that the priority was to get the road repaired first. This would mean materials could once again reach the site allowing the builders to build and rebuild. Even if it was still raining! He promised that this would be done immediately and OBRI would provide additional funds to ensure it happened. 

Rain, rain and more rain.

Along with the bad weather come new challenges. In the January storm, five houses were destroyed and will need rebuilding. More on this story later.

To add to the problems, the 12km track to the new village is now impassable. Heavy rain has washed away whole sections of road. As a result the delivery lorries cannot reach the building site and materials are running low.

To ensure the village is completed on schedule the answer had to immediate. OBRI met with Pak Camat to discuss the problem and agreed on a joint effort to repair the road. He was kind enough to supply the excavators and other heavy equipment, will OBRI provided funding, lorries and labour.

There was no time to loose as every day meant another days delay in finishing the project. Following the meeting with Pak Camat we immediately went to see what was needed. In total there were seven areas where the road had become a mud bath. Impossible for even cars to navigate.

It took 200 lorry loads of rock to repair the damaged road. Pak Camat promised the work would start the next day and true to his word, the repairs were completed in 4 days.

With the road temporarily repaired, materials to complete the village can now reach the site.

Thanks to everyone for working so fast to repair the road. And many thanks to Pak Camat for his support and cooperation.