There has been a flurry of announcements in recent weeks that will bring a significant rise in land values in Lombok.
A] 3 Oct: Lombok’s new international airport [BIL] opened, accepting all flights previously arriving at Mataram airport [from Singapore, Malaysia, Denpasar and Jakarta.] The airport is designed to accommodate Boeing 747 and Airbus 380 aircraft, with a target to bring 1 million passengers a year to Lombok. Current airlines flying into the new airport include SilkAir, Lion Air, Garuda, Merpati, Batavia Air, Wings Air and Trans Nusa. Air Asia will start operating flights to Lombok from Australia in early 2012 and more airlines are set to follow once the full 3,000 metre runway is opened in the new year.
B] 20 October: President Yudhoyono inaugurated the new airport and spoke of his determination to see the airport meet it’s full potential and so increase tourism to Lombok. He urged current road upgrading works be completed within 6 months, and ordered the planned project to extend the runway to accommodate 747 and A380 aircraft to be undertaken immediately.
C] 21 October: The President welcomed Prime Minister Najib of Malaysia to annual bi-lateral talks, this year held in Mataram, Lombok.
On the same day Ibu Marie Pangestu, the newly appointed Minister for Tourism for Indonesia visited the south coast of Lombok. Minister Pangestu travelled to Selong Belanak to view the potential of this area of outstanding natural beauty in person.
D] 22 October: President Yudhoyono sounded the siren at a ground-breaking ceremony for the development of the Mandalika resort area on Lombok’s south coast. USD3 billion will be required for the development of 5 star hotels, a convention centre, golf course, a marina and more.
Several MoUs were signed with the government body that owns the land designated for the development of the Mandalika area during the ceremony:
- The Rajawali Group will build a hotel in Tanjung Aan near Kuta. The Rajawali Group already owns the very successful Novotel in Kuta.
- The Global Land Development arm of the MNC Group will build a hotel and convention center.
- Rahmat Gobel will build a hotel on 350 hectares of land. A clean water plant will also be developed.
- Media Nusantara will lead the development of a theme park.
- A tourism school and nursing school are to be developed by a Taiwanese investor aiming to develop health tourism.
Government support at the very highest level for the development of tourism in Lombok is clear. Now that these joint ventures have been announced, and as building begins, Lombok land prices will rise rapidly – the only question is how quickly and just how high.
As always, location is key to maximizing returns. Just 20-30 minutes drive from the new airport via the very much improved roads, Kuta and Selong Belanak are clearly our top picks for investors in Lombok land. And the beautiful beaches between Selong Belanak and Kuta, such as those at Tampah and Mawun, are of interest to investors looking for a lower entry point. These beaches will once again become easy to access when the current road upgrading works are completed in the next few months, and they will benefit from being accessible from both Kuta and Selong Belanak.
We have seen great variations in prices bring asked for land in southern Lombok in recent weeks. This is particularly the case in the areas surrounding Kuta where asking prices currently vary from 70,000,000 for prime beachfront [click here for more details] to 250,000,000 per Are. Land in the hills behind Kuta is on the market from as little as 15,000,000 per Are but again asking prices vary widely.
We advise buyers to research opportunities and pricing carefully, and to use Bali with its advanced level of development to help benchmark realistic values.
We will only represent land that is realistically priced on this site.
