Bali mulls deal in row over 2002 bomb site

Survivors and relatives of Australian victims want the site where the Sari Club used to stand to be preserved as a peace park in memory of the 202 people, including 88 Australians, who were killed in the October 12, 2002, bombings.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has criticised the local government's decision to allow the owner of the land to build a five-storey restaurant.

Theolina Marpaung, one of the Indonesian survivors of the attack, said Bali Governor I Wayan Koster suggested on Thursday that the government could give the landowner a 800-square-metre plot of land nearby in return for giving up the Sari club site.

"We hope that the governor's proposal can be a solution," she said on Friday.

Bali's governor, the Australian consul general in Bali, Helena Studdert, and representatives of the survivors met in Bali on Thursday to find a solution to the impasse.

But there was no agreement as the owner was not present at the meeting.

Groundbreaking work on the restaurant had been scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed indefinitely pending a deal.

Last week, Morrison tweeted that the decision to permit the construction of a restaurant on the site was "deeply distressing".

He said the Australian government had provided support and funding to establish a peace park on the site.

"The Australian Government will continue to work with the Indonesian authorities to seek to resolve this issue and ensure the memories and families of all those who were murdered in that shocking terrorist attack are properly respected," Morrison tweeted.

The Sari nightclub was destroyed by a massive car bomb just seconds after a suicide bomber blew up the nearby Paddy's Bar on Kuta's bustling entertainment strip.

Australian Associated Press