Jakarta, Nov 9 (Antara) - Indonesia has 840 reservoirs or lakes which have high economic and ecological value, and it is not only the locals who will benefit from these reservoirs but also foreign tourists who visit them.
However, some of these reservoirs are facing acute problems on account of pollution from domestic waste, floating fish cages, upstream erosion of land and degradation of their biodiversity. At many reservoirs, the water surface is covered by water hyacinth.
Therefore, the government is rehabilitating its lakes and developing infrastructure as part of the efforts to support its priority tourism development program. For the lake rehabilitation program this year the government has set aside a fund of Rp187.5 billion out of its total lake-related infrastructure development funding of Rp735 billion.
"The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) has allocated more than Rp735 billion for the development of infrastructure. In line with the function of the PUPR function, we are focusing on the development of infrastructure such as toll roads, bridges and lake rehabilitation around Lake Toba in North Sumatra," Lolly Martina Martief, the operation and maintenance affairs director of the Directorate General of Natural Resources of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, said in Denpasar, Bali, on Wednesday.
The development of infrastructure of the lakes is an approach adopted by the government as part of the lake resource tourism development based on the directives laid out in the spatial development planning. This is an investment support for the development of lakes and important tourism business.
At least 15 lakes/reservoirs in a critical condition are receiving attention on priority in the government's reservoir salvation program. "It should be managed based on the principle of ecological balance," Arief Yanto of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, was quoted as saying by Tempo.co online media last year.
Indicators of critical lakes included the silting of the lake bed due to soil erosion and the growth of various plants such as water hyacinth that caused the drop in the lake's water levels. The efforts to restore the healthy conditions of the lakes would be made through a short and long term scheme.
In the short term, water hyacinth would be removed from the reservoirs because the trash from hyacinth was big and could affect the reservoir water.
The 15 lakes which are in a critical condition, have been included in the government's 2015-2019 middle-term development plan, according to Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya.
The 15 lakes are Toba of North Sumatra, Maninjau and Singkarak of West Sumatra, Kerinci of Jambi, Rawa Danau of Banten, Rawapening of Central Java and Batur of Bali.
Others are Lake Tempe and Lake Matano of South Sulawesi, Poso of Central Sulawesi, Tondano of North Sulawesi, Limboto of Gorontalo, Sentarum of West Kalimantan, Cascade Mahakam-Semayang, Melintang-Jempang of East Kalimantan and Sentani of Papua.
The decision to give priority to the rehabilitation of the 15 lakes is intended to improve the quality of their water and make their environment healthier through reduction their sedimentation and erosion, Minister Siti Nurbaya said.
Especially for this year, the Directorate General of Water Resources of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing has allocated Rp187.5 billion to finance the rehabilitation of seven of the 15 lakes.
"In 2016, we have allocated Rp187.5 billion for the restoration of seven lakes, namely Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Lake Tempe in South Sulawesi, Lake Maninjau in West Sumatra, Lake Rawapening in Central Java, Lake Tondano in North Sulawesi, Lake Limboto in Gorontalo, and Lake Singkarak in West Sumatra," Lolly Martina Martief, the operation, maintenance affairs director of the Directorate General of Natural Resources of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, said here on Wednesday.
He said that the restoration works covered the dredging of lake sediment, the construction of lake dikes and lake zoning.
"This is important, because with the zoning of lakes and its borders, the water level could be determined and a spillway could be installed to adjust the height of the water level," he said.
Lolly said that the rehabilitation of the seven lakes will continue in 2017 with an additional fund allocation of Rp330 billion. The restoration of the seven priority lakes is one of the initiatives carried out by the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing for the management of lakes in the country.
Lakes or reservoirs have many functions. Locals earn a living by cultivating fish and use the water for their daily needs. These also provide hydro power, and are tourist destinations for locals and foreign visitors.
However, these functions are being threatened due to the degradation of the reservoirs' surrounding environment.
In order to ensure that reservoirs fulfill all their functions, the commitment of everyone, including the regional government and the people, is needed.
Since 2009, an agreement reached by nine ministers has been in force to develop and manage sustainable reservoirs.***4***(A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE/H-YH(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 09-11-2016 21:35: |
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