Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono aims to complete the construction of Jlantah Dam, Karanganyar District, Central Java, by the end of 2023.

"Hopefully, we can complete the construction by the end of 2023," Minister Hadimuljono noted in a written statement received in Jakarta on Sunday.

Apart from Jlantah, the ministry is also working on 12 other dams across Indonesia this year, namely Cipanas, Karian, Sepaku Semoi, Keureuto, Rukoh, Tiu Suntuk, Lausimeme, Sidan, Leuwikeris, Temef, Pamukkulu, and Ameroro.

According to the minister, the Jlantah Dam will be able to reserve up to 10.97 cubic meters of water from Jlantah and Puru Rivers. The dam construction is designed with a height of 70 meters from the bottom of the rivers, a peak length of 404 meters, a peak width of 12 meters, and a peak elevation of over 690 meters.

The Ministry's Director of Dams and Lakes Adenan Rasyid said that two state-owned construction companies, PT Waskita Karya and PT Adhi Karya KSO, started the dam construction in July 2019 with a contract value of Rp965 billion (US$64.5 million).

"Currently, the progress has reached 65 percent of completion. The Jlantah Dam is projected to irrigate 1,494 hectare of rice fields in the areas of Jatipuro and Jumapolo, Karanganyar District," Rasyid stated.

Related news: PUPR Ministry completes construction of Cipanas Dam in West Java

In addition to serving as an irrigation source, the dam will serve as a raw water source with the capacity of 150 liters per second and will be able to reduce flood discharge by 51.26 percent, or 70.33 cubic meters per second in Q50 (50 years) interval.

"This dam also has the potential to serve as a 0.625-megawatt micro-hydro power plant, a conservation facility as well as a tourist destination in Karanganyar District," he pointed out.

In the 2015-2025 period, the PUPR Ministry is targeting to complete the construction of a total of 61 dams that are projected to increase the supply of premium irrigation water from 10.6 percent to 19.3 percent.

As of February 2023, the ministry has completed construction of 36 new dams that resulted in an increase of 234,741 hectares of productive irrigation regions.

The increase is in line with the government's efforts to expand irrigation network areas of 1.12 million hectares as well as to rehabilitate 3.84 million hectares of irrigation network.

Related news: PUPR Ministry looking to complete 13 dams this year

Related news: KSP calls for acceleration of construction of dam projects in Aceh

Translator: Tegar Nurfitra Putra Rofian
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2023