Investors Win Dispute In Management Of Saronde Island Over North Gorontalo Regional Government

Photo of Saronde Island air in Ponelo District, North Gorontalo Islands. (ANTARA/HO-GAB document)

JAKARTA - National investor PT Gorontalo Alam Bahari (GAB) managed to win a dispute over the management of Saronde Island in North Gorontalo, Gorontalo Province.

"Alhamdulillah, we won a cassation-level decision on the lawsuit against the North Gorontalo Regional Government (Pemda) for the Saronde Island management dispute," said Director of PT GAB Mia Amalia from Jakarta, Tuesday.

He said the cassation decision Number: 4400K/PDT/2024 had been received by his party on December 30, 2024.

In the summary of the decision, there are two main points, namely stating that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between PT GAB and the North Gorontalo Regional Government is the basis for managing Saronde Island since 2013.

"Then punish the North Gorontalo Regional Government to pay compensation for the destruction of facilities belonging to PT GAB," Mia said in her statement.

PT GAB said that its company is a domestic investor who has good intentions and objectives to build Saronde Island tourism together with local governments since 2013.

"We agree in managing the island. We have also built, organized and held many tourism activities on Saronde Island in an effort to promote and increase interest in tourism visits in the area. However, the local government has unilaterally terminated cooperation," Mia said.

The unilateral termination of cooperation caused losses to PT GAB and resulted in the loss of people's livelihoods around the island.

This condition made GABkata Mia file a lawsuit that led to victory at the cassation level.

His party explained that in the near future they will coordinate with the attorneys and the North Gorontalo Regional Government to discuss and discuss the follow-up to the decision that has been signed.

"We have to live side by side because in the end our common enemy is poverty, loss of livelihood and loss of access to travel for local residents," he said.

According to him, what has happened cannot be changed again, right and wrong have been decided through the court and it is only a matter of running it.

He hopes that what happens can be a lesson for all parties.