"The dam must be used by the community for drinking water and power supplies," President Jokowi said when laying the cornerstone of the dam.
He also urged that the dam help support the food resilience program in surrounding areas.
"Food resilience could be realized if we have food barns, but the key is (ample supplies of) water. Therefore, we will build the dam," he said.
The construction work of Rotiklot dam is expected to be completed within three years. It will have a capacity of 2.9 million m3 and is expected to irrigate 139 hectares of farming areas.
The dam is also designed to generate electricity.
President Jokowi also said he would send a 60 MW floating power generator to East Nusa Tenggara.
On Sunday, President Joko Widodo dedicated a solar-powered electricity generating plant in the village of Oeipuah, Central Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
"This is the first large capacity solar power plant made in Indonesia," he said after dedicating the 5 MW power project, being carried out by state-owned company PT LEN.
The president said a similar power plant, with an equal or even larger capacity, would also be built in other parts of the Indonesian eastern region.
"This is what we are going to carry out, especially on remote islands, where developing coal-fired power plant will be difficult to carry out," he said.
He noted that a solar power plant is environmentally friendly and faster to build, compared to a coal-fired power plant.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
