Gov’t Continues Program for Improving Irrigation in Villages

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 24 April 2020
Category: News
Read: 492 Views

Village Irrigation. Photo by: Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing

Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing continues the implementation of cash for work programs to accelerate community infrastructure development in 2020 and to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in rural areas.

One of the programs is the Acceleration Program for Irrigation Water Use Improvement (P3TGAI) which is implemented by the Offices of Directorate General for Water Resources, and the communities.

The cash for work program is expected to reduce unemployment and maintain people’s purchasing power amid economic uncertainty due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The program is in line with President Joko Widodo’s directives to allocate the budget for helping rural communities. The program is also beneficial to maintain agricultural productivity by providing more water supplies.

Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono said that the infrastructure programs or cash for work programs are very important for low-income people.

“In addition to reducing unemployment and maintaining people’s purchasing power, the cash for work program also aims to improve the quality of irrigation infrastructure in rural areas. Water loss in the channel can be reduced by good channel lining. The implementation of the program also takes into account physical & social distancing protocols,” the Minister said.

For the record, the P3TGAI is a program to improve tertiary irrigation channels, from natural/land channels to channels with stone/lining pairs. The program is implemented by farmers or local residents. The workers are given daily or weekly wages, thereby increasing the income of farmers or villagers, especially between planting and harvesting seasons.

In 2020, the P3TGAI will be implemented in 10,000 locations in 33 provinces. The P3TGAI is one of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing’s programs with a total budget of Rp10.2 trillion. Before the budget reallocation, the targeted P3TGAI locations were 6,000 locations.

As of today, the construction has started in 458 locations in 11 provinces, including Jambi, West Sumatra, Riau Islands, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Bali and West Nusa Tenggara, while dissemination of the programs have been conducted in almost 1,800 locations in 33 provinces. (Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing)

 

 

Translated by: Ridwan Ibadurrohman
Reviewed by: Mia Medyana

Latest News