"I invite all of us to continue to work together and maintain cohesiveness in completing infrastructure development that is distributed evenly across the corners of Indonesia`s territory as a form of government presence embodying social justice for all Indonesian people," Hadimuljono remarked at the 73rd Public Work Day Commemoration Ceremony held in Bandung, West Java, on Monday.
At the event titled "Bakti PUPR Build Infrastructure to Unite the Nation," Basuki reminded that exactly 73 years ago, as many as 21 employees, who were assigned to guard Gedung Sate in Bandung, the Public Works Department building at that time, faced an attack by allied forces.
This heroic event resulted in a total of seven PU employees being killed -- Didi Hardianto Kamarga, Muchtaruddin, Soehodo, Rio Soesilo, Soebengat, Ranu, and Soerjono -- who are now known as Heroes of Sapta Taruna.
"The cohesiveness and extraordinary fighting spirit of the Heroes Sapta Taruna has always been an inspiration for every PUPR person in carrying out his duties, especially at this time where infrastructure development has become a priority in order to catch up with other nations," he stated.
According to Basuki, various achievements of the Ministry of PUPR have benefited all sections of society and garnered praises from the public, but this should not become a reason to quickly become complacent.
The PUPR minister is also looking for various new breakthroughs and leaps to be made in order to be able to compete with other countries, among others, since infrastructure development can only be accelerated with the support of the results of modern research and technology.
"Infrastructure that is built is no longer just to meet basic needs but must be aimed at encouraging improvement of the nation`s competitiveness," he noted.
To this end, all implementation must be based on a well-planned programming process and strong leadership, because if not, development will only be spread out and not synergized, so in future, it will not have a significant impact.
Minister Basuki is keen that all ranks are able to become infrastructure managers and not simply construction managers to ensure that the infrastructure can be developed in a timely manner, be of the right quality and cost-effective, as well as offer appropriate benefits.
"At the end of 2018, I again stressed that we focus on completing the programmed work and maintain a commitment to achieve a prognosis of 93 percent according to the target delivered," he stated.
He also reminded that for 2019, the Ministry of PUPR was given a mandate of a budget allocation of Rp110.7 trillion, the largest allotment of all ministries and institutions.
He explained that the mandate requires all to continue to improve competence and to maintain integrity by always being honest, consistent, and firm in implementing the rules.
He stated that PUPR personnel must also be able to solve every problem in a real way in order to build connectivity to unite Indonesia, provide a decent place to live, and improve food and water security for the welfare of the Indonesian nation.
Reporting by M Razi Rahman
Editing by Eliswan
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Eliswan Azly
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
