Jakarta, July 26 (Antara) - As a consequence of its position under the equatorial line, Indonesia is a tropical country with two annual rainy and dry seasons, with floods and droughts often wreaking havoc on crops, properties or even lives.
The impact of the geographical condition has inspired President Joko Widodo to increase the number of dams in the country, in addition to those already existing such as the Cirata and Gajah Mungkur in Java.
During his presidential campaign last year, Jokowi, as the president is intimately called, promised to build at least seven reservoirs to hold water during the rainy seasons for the benefit of irrigation to the farm land of the need for water of the people during the dry season.
One of the provinces in the country which is often affected by floods during the rainy season and drought during the dry spells is East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
Last March, for example, several districts were hit by floods destroying hundreds of agricultural crops and causing farmers to suffer from harvest failures. Hundreds of ready to harvest maize plants failed to yield.
In addition, during the dry season, the dry spell also wreaks havoc on farmland, cattle and residents who run short of water.
During the dry season in East Nusa Tanggara last October, hundreds of cattle died of shortage of water. At least 19 districts in the province suffered from the ill-effect of drought.
Besides failure of farmland to be harvested, the drought also caused social unrest as residents had to compete to find water.
Therefore, the government is planning to build reservoirs in East Nusa Tenggara so that the volume of water during the rainy seasons would be held in dams and be channeled to irrigation for farmland and be supplied for human and cattle needs.
"NTT has a big problem, which is water," President Jokoiwi said when inspecting the development of the Raknamo Reservoir construction in Amabi Oefeto, Kupang District, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Saturday (July 25, 2015).
The president stated that the availability of water will overcome the various problems that exist in NTT, such as drought, food insecurity and poor nutrition.
"The key is in the water. When water is available, we can talk about planting. We can plant corn, rice, sugarcane, and others. Then we can raise cattle," the president noted.
The laying of the first stone for the Raknamo Reservoir development had been held on December 20, 2014.
The Raknamo Dam whose construction commenced last December is one of the seven reservoirs the government is planning to construct in NTT in an effort to overcome water problem in one of the Indonesian eastern provinces.
"(We will) also build 100 small reservoirs, as in the Timur Tengah Selatan, where a total of 1000 wells are being built, and when I checked yesterday 230 of them had been finished," the President said.
He said the key is first assuring water supplies, and only after that can one talk about what he or she is going to plant.
"We can plant corn. Paddy fields are also possible in several areas. We can also develop sorghum, sugarcane or animal husbandry. But unless the foundation is available, we may only be able to talk about them," President Jokowi said.
"In view of that, I participated in the groundbreaking for the development of Raknamo dam in December and, therefore, I came here to assure it is running well. I only told the governor yesterday that I would come here. I will check its development. The six other dams will follow," he said.
He said that unless water is available, problems in the region will never be settled.
In view of that, he added that the government would build seven dams in the region and it is hoped they will be finished in two to three years.
The Raknamo reservoir, which is one of the seven dams, some 35 kilometers east of Kupang city, is to supply standard water to urban areas and to irrigate around 841 hectares of farm lands in the district of Kupang.
The seven reservoirs are Lambo reservoir in Nagekeo district, Kolhua in Kupang city, Raknamo and Manikin in Kupang district, Rotiklot in Belu district, Temef in Timor Tengah Selatan (TTS) district, and Napunggete in Sikka district.
In the meantime, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono assured that the on-going construction of the Raknamo Dam will be completed by 2017 so that the reservoir will begin to be operational by 2018.
"So far, we have no problem hampering the construction of the dam. The local residents were even very helpful as they provided their land to build access roads to the locations," the minister remarked.
Initially, the minister predicted that there would be constraints to be face in the construction of the reservoir but it turned out be proceeding smoothly without disturbance.
The Public Works Ministry and the executor of the project earlier predicted that the dam would be finished by 2019 but it seemed to be proceeding much speedier. Thus, it could be assured it will finish in 2017 and will function in 2018.
"It will be finished in 2017 and we will wait for a period of rainy season to fill the dam with water. Of course it will take place in 2018," Minister Basuki Hadimuljo said.
Head of Public Works Service of NTT Andre Koreh said the Raknamo Dam's area that holds water covers 147.3 hectares and is able to irrigate 1,250 hectares of land with raw water supplies of 0.10 cubic meters per second.
"We hope that Raknamo Reservoir will resolve the water shortage and irrigation problems in Kupang District, East Nusa Tenggara," the minister stated.
He said that the Ranamo Dam which was built at a cost of Rp710.6 billion will support the development of a micro hydro power plant with a capacity of 0.216 Megawatts.***4***
(T.A014/f001 )
(T.A014/A/A. Abdussalam/F. Assegaf) 26-07-2015 12:39: |
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