Six coal plants, one solar test for Lombok

This issue leads with a quieter story than usual, but one worth watching closely: West Nusa Tenggara is assessing the conversion of six small coal plants to solar. Nothing is built yet, and the province has floated grid upgrades before without delivery, but land and investment decisions here tend to ripple into the same infrastructure conversations that shape where development money flows next in Lombok.

The rest of the issue circles Mandalika from several angles at once. MotoGP travel packages, a new beach camping ground, and a festival pushed to December for safety reasons are three different signals about the same underlying question: how mature is Mandalika's visitor economy actually becoming, and how much of it is still being built as it goes.

We also flag a rupiah move and an aviation contingency plan, both reminders that Lombok's property story doesn't sit in isolation. Currency strength and flight reliability are unglamorous, but they're exactly the sort of variables that show up later in occupancy numbers and repatriated returns.