President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that Indonesia must now focus on managing water for the future. One of them is building dams to maximize water use. He said that until now Indonesia seemed to be lagging behind in building dams to maximize water use. From Sabang to Merauke there are a total of 4,400 rivers, but so far only 292 dams have been built.
Jokowi compared it with other countries, such as South Korea to China. In South Korea there are a total of 20 thousand dams in operation, while in China there are more, up to 98 thousand dams.
“We have 4,400 rivers, but we only have 292 dams. To illustrate, China has 98 thousand dams, South Korea has approximately 20 thousand dams,” explained Jokowi in his statement, Friday (23/2/2024).
Jokowi conveyed this when inaugurating the Lolak Dam in North Sulawesi. This dam was built with a budget of IDR 2.02 trillion with a multitude of functions that can be optimized.
Apart from being a raw water supply with a discharge of 500 liters per second and a reach of up to 10 kilometers, Jokowi explained that this dam could act as a flood barrier. This dam is expected to reduce the risk of flooding by up to 29% in the surrounding area, a significant improvement compared to previous conditions.
“It can reduce flooding by up to 29%, if previously there was a flood, then there was a dam, it would be reduced,” said Jokowi.
Then, this dam can increase agricultural productivity around the dam area. With a capacity of 16 million cubic meters, the Lolak Dam can irrigate an agricultural area of 2,200 hectares.
Lolak Dam can also function as a hydroelectric power plant with an energy potential of 2.43 MW. Not only that, the Lolak Dam will also become a new tourism destination in the Bolaang Mongondow area, and the ex-excavated land can be used as a productive fruit forest.
February 23, 2024, detikFinance
(https://finance.detik.com/infrastruktur/d-7208009/jokowi-sebut-ri-ketinggalan-bangun-bendungan-kalah-dengan-china-korsel)