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!