JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia has ordered property firm PT MNC Land to halt development of a Lido tourism project affiliated with U.S. President Donald Trump over water management and environmental issues, its environment ministry said on Thursday.
The 3,000 hectare (7413.16 acres) integrated resort is located about 60 km (37.3 miles) south of the capital Jakarta and is home to a new Trump golf course, which started offering membership last year.
The Trump Organization is also set to operate a luxury hotel and residential homes in the future, with MNC Land as developer.
The ministry said in a statement that mismanagement of rainwater at the resort had caused sedimentation in Lido lake, making it shallower and halving the size of the body of water to 12 hectares (29.65 acres).
MNC Land also did not follow an environmental assessment document approved by the government for its development plan, the ministry said.
MNC Land and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
“The mismatch between environmental plans and physical implementation has become a serious concern in an effort to preserve natural resources,” Ardyanto Nugroho, director of environment supervision at the ministry, said in the statement.
The ministry expects MNC Land to submit a new environmental assessment if it wants to continue developing Lido, said ministry spokesperson Sasmita Nugroho.
Lido has been one of the biggest projects for MNC Group, chaired by tycoon and politician Hary Tanoesoedibjo. The company has been promoting the project for years and it gained momentum in 2023 after Indonesia’s former President Joko Widodo gave it a special economic zone status, providing MNC Land with tax breaks and leniency on permits.
Tanoesoedibjo, who attended Trump’s inauguration in Washington earlier this year, told Reuters in 2017 that he signed a management deal with the Trump Organization in 2015.
MNC Land already operates a hotel and an adventure park. Its development plans for Lido include constructing a theme park and a movie studio, company website showed.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Martin Petty, Gayatri Suroyo, William Maclean)
