The Bali provincial government has permanently shut down a controversial project to build a towering glass elevator at one of the island’s most photographed beaches, following widespread public backlash and environmental concerns.
The project was planned at the dramatic cliffs of Kelingking Beach, a rugged stretch of coastline famous for its steep limestone formations and jaw-dropping views. The elevator was meant to transport tourists directly from the cliff top to the beach below, sparing visitors a difficult and sometimes dangerous climb on a narrow footpath carved into the rock.
Images of the construction, which showed a massive lift shaft being built into the fragile cliff face, quickly went viral on social media late last month. The scale of the structure, at an estimated height of 182 metres, triggered outrage among conservationists, residents, and travellers who feared the project would permanently scar the landscape.
Following the public outcry, local authorities suspended construction on October 31. The final decision came on Sunday, November 23, when Bali Governor I Wayan Koster ordered that the project be terminated completely.
In a public statement, Koster said the elevator violated spatial planning laws, posed a serious threat to the coastal environment, and disrupted the original natural character of Nusa Penida. He directed the project’s developer, PT Indonesia Kaishi Tourism Property Investment Development Group, to demolish the partially built lift shaft, ticketing building, and foundation within six months. The company must then rehabilitate the damaged site within a further three months.
The South China Morning Post reported that the project was financed by Chinese investors and had drawn criticism for pushing industrial-scale tourism infrastructure into a highly sensitive ecological zone.
Governor Koster also pointed to irregularities in how the project received clearance. According to his office, the construction permit was automatically issued through Indonesia’s central government Online Single Submission system before all the required validations were completed. He said the approval, in fact, only covered the small ticket-counter structure, not the massive elevator shaft.
“This is our effort to be firm, so that similar violations by stakeholders do not happen again in the future,” Koster said.
The episode has renewed criticism of how Indonesia’s central and local governments handle development approvals. Experts said the case exposed deep coordination gaps between national permitting systems and provincial authorities.
Muhammad Dzulfikar Al Ghofiqi, a public administration lecturer at Airlangga University, told the Post that allowing such “hard engineering” on a fragile karst cliff showed how dangerous these regulatory gaps can be. He called for an independent audit of the project to examine how it moved forward in such a sensitive location.
I Nyoman Gede Maha Putra, an architecture lecturer at the University of Warmadewa, said that weak coordination between different levels of government creates loopholes that investors can exploit. He also expressed doubts that the damage to Kelingking Beach could be fully reversed, given the scale of excavation already carried out.
Even before the cancellation, the project had stirred deep unease among local residents, many of whom depend on tourism but fear unchecked development could destroy the natural beauty that draws visitors in the first place. Nusa Penida has seen a sharp rise in tourist numbers in the last decade, with new hotels, roads, and attractions rapidly reshaping its landscape.
For many observers, the cancellation of the glass elevator marks a rare instance where public pressure and environmental concerns prevailed over commercial interests. But it also leaves behind a cautionary lesson about how fragile Bali’s natural icons remain in the face of aggressive tourism-driven development.
