Jokowi Inaugurates Semantok Dam worth Rp2.5tn

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo inaugurated Semantok Dam in Nganjuk Regency, East Java, today, December 20, 2022. This national strategic project which began construction in 2017 spent up to Rp2.5 trillion, higher than what was initially reported by the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry at Rp1.17 trillion.

“It’s not a small amount of money,” he said at the inauguration event.

Since 2015, the state head said, the government has started building dams and reservoirs. Semantok Dam is the 30th dam that has been inaugurated. “The target will be around 50-60 [dams] at the end of 2024,” he added.

The dam projects, he explained, were built to support agriculture, electricity, tourism, and other needs. It was expected that the more dams are built, the more production and the higher the welfare of farmers.

The former mayor of Solo mentioned that the capacity of the newly-inaugurated dam was enormous, reaching 30.26 million cubic meters with an area of 365 hectares which could irrigate around 1,900 hectares of rice fields. 

“[Farmers] who usually harvest once [a year] can now harvest twice [a year]. If they usually harvest twice [a year], they can harvest three times [a year],” said Jokowi, adding that Semantok Dam was not only expected to be useful for Nganjuk farmers, but also for farmers in other areas of East Java.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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