President Inaugurates Nipah Dam
President Joko Widodo signs an inscription at the inauguration of Nipah Dam, in Sampang (19/3)
After inaugurating Surabaya-Mojokerto Toll Road Section IV at Mojokerto Regency, President Joko Widodo and his entourage, on Saturday (19/3) afternoon, headed to Sampang, Madura, to inaugurate the operation of Nipah Dam.
This Dam is intended to maintain long-term food production, the President said.
With the rapid increase of global population growth, in the future, people will fight for two things, i.e. energy and food. To avoid food crisis in the future, the Government continues to build dams because the key tofood security is water supply.
This year is 8 (dams), next year there will be 9 dams. Because the key to progress is in water supply, the President said.
For example, in East Nusa Tenggara Province, the Government has targeted to build 7 dams because this province suffers from water shortages for irrigation and is lack of drinking water. With more dams, food production is expected to be abundant.
In the next 30-40 years, other countries will come to ask for our food surplus. They will ask for it. It is not us who will import from them, the President said optimistically.
According to the President, this dam will irrigate 1,150-hectares of rice fields. These fields consist of 925-hectare of new rice fields that is a development of rainfed wetland rice and 225-hectare of existing rice fields. Besides irrigating therice fields, the dam is also used for water conservation and fishery as well as a tourist attraction.
Nipah Dam in Sampang is expected to be able to operate for 50 years, thus, sustainable maintenance is a must.
Water catchment area of Nipah Dam must be well-maintained by paying attention to good conservation system. The things that must be taken into account are the ratio of maximum and minimum flow under 50, sedimentation rate 2 mm/year in maximum, and the ratio of green open space is 30 percent in minimum.
The location of the Dam is in Tabanah Village, Banyuates Sub-district, Sampang Regency, or North Coast of Sampang, 60 kilometers from Bangkalan City, Madura. Nipah Dam has been in the pipeline since 1973,while the land acquisition started in 1982. In 1993, the people dissallowed this project, so it was stopped. In 2004, the construction was started and it finished in 2008. However, due to land acquisition problem, the watering process started on 10 October 2015.
On that occasion, the President and First Lady Ibu Iriana Joko Widodo were accompanied by Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and Deputy Governor of East Java Saifullah Yusuf. (TKP/SLN)(MMB/YM/Naster)
