Vintage Cars in Tukad Mungga Sea Park

Six vintage Volkswagen (VW) cars made of sand and iron structures will be a part of Indonesia Coral Reef Garden (ICRG), in the  sea park of Tukad Mungga village, north of Lovina.

Jero Made Wirana, the Village Coordinator said this was a special request from the Buleleng Regent.

A vintage car club will also come to watch and participate when the structures are submerged at 11 locations within the project area.

Each structure will combine the iron frame and wheels of a used VW, with sand and cement, on which new coral can grow.

Local residents carry out this labor intensive work on the beaches, with temporary stalls being built for their support. The appearance of more stalls surrounding the project area indicate the project’s economic impact.

The village relies on dry farming, including moors and fisheries, as well as craftsmen and laborers for its economy. Local industries other than fishing include red brick, tourism, transport, and local groups include Darma Samudera, Segara Wangi, and Pokwasmas Bhakti Segara Happy.

Nearly 400 residents are involved in the project, producing around 400 roti buaya, 62 fishdomes, 113 hexadomes, 642 earth pegs, 3 crocodile statues – as well as the VWs! Each structure is arranged in the sea according to the planned design.

Each village’s residents gather and form a line to pass materials to the team adding concrete to the iron structure. The village head, Dharmayadnya I Nyoman Sumitra Jaya, said around 100 female workers were tasked with transporting sand, melting it, fetching water, and carrying the mixture to those in the structure-forming group.

The village has also built a raft to bring the structure out to the sea when they will be submerged. Edwin, an experienced diver in charge of managing the placement under the sea request that the placement process to be earlier than before. “Propose in instalments, if after completion of the construction of the new structure it will take a long time to go down, it cannot catch up to December 20, the end of this project,” he suggested.

“Managing it takes time. We gardeners are evaluated every day, following the clusters,” he said, excited to start arranging the structural placement. This is the next stage of hard work for the team with various risks such as fractures, currents, and the weather.

As a diver, he invites tourists to dive in Pemuteran, Tulamben, and Menjangan,  three tourist dive areas  close to the village.

Andre from LINI says that most of the village’s residents are involved, and that lowering the structures in the sea will require the use of rafts and boats. The carrying capacity of each boat and raft is being calculated currently, and the planned time frame is around 15 days after the tagging process and BAP handover to the Ministry.