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Denpasar. Plans are stuck on the drawing board for a massive convention center in Bali that will host the 2013 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, as one of its contractors has been denied a building permit.

Putu Agung Prianta, director of contractor Jimbaran Hijau, said Sunday that the district government’s refusal to grant a permit violated orders from the president, ministers and the Bali governor for the project to proceed.

“The time is fast running out for us to get started because we need to finish the project by August 2013 at the very latest,” Prianta said.

The Bali International Park is slated to be built in Jimbaran, Badung district at an estimated cost of Rp 2.7 trillion ($300 million). The 10,000-seat convention center will hold a world trade and commerce center with an exhibition hall and pavilions, as well as a world culture center.

Supporting facilities will include a hospital, an art market, a gallery and a 200-room hotel. A 23-residence complex will also be available to house state guests for the summit.

Badung district head Anak Agung Gde Agung denied holding back the Bali International Park project.

“If indeed all the contractors have met all the criteria, then of course we’ll issue permits for them to start work,” he said. “Conversely, if they haven’t, then we can’t give them the go-ahead because the risks are too great.”

Agung said Jimbaran Hijau had failed to fulfill a key criteria: proper acquisition of the land for the construction site.

Although the contractor has submitted a notary deed to confirm its land parcel purchase from the previous owner, Agung said it still needed to obtain a title deed from the district’s National Land Agency (BPN) office.

Tri Nugroho, head of the local BPN, said the process of applying for the title deed was straightforward once the notary deed had been obtained.

Meanwhile, as Jimbaran Hijau grows impatient, environmentalists hope the delays continue. They contend that the project flouts a spatial planning bylaw aimed at moving tourism development out of southern Bali and into other parts of the island.

Hundreds of environmental and spiritual activists held a sit-in at the convention site on Saturday to pray for the project to be scrapped for good.

Tegas Dharmoko, the protest coordinator, accused the Bali administration of selling residents’ farmland and ancestral lands to developers.