Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) urged Governor of South Kalimantan and all district heads as well as mayors in the province to make interventional efforts to prevent recurrence of flooding by conducting large-scale rehabilitation of land.
"I have requested the governor and all districts (to undertake interventional efforts) since land rehabilitation is very important. Reforestation and replanting, especially those related to existing watersheds, should be conducted on a large scale immediately," the head of state remarked after inaugurating the Tapin Dam, South Kalimantan, on Thursday.
The president highlighted the importance of the local governments intervening for conducting land rehabilitation in order to prevent recurrence of major flooding in South Kalimantan.
"We do not want to be hit by floods in future," Jokowi emphasized.
In mid-January of 2021, South Kalimantan Province was hit by massive flooding that affected 10 districts and cities and displaced thousands of people.
The president called for comprehensive prevention and handling of floods, from upstream to downstream area.
Jokowi expressed hope that the operation of Tapin Dam would help prevent flooding.
"The governor also said that flooding in Tapin District could be reduced drastically owing to the Tapin Dam. It was only a very small area that was affected by the flood because Tapin District has this dam. This is another function of the dam apart from irrigating rice fields, generating electricity, and supplying water. It is also in the context of flood control," he stated.
The Tapin Dam, inaugurated by President Jokowi on Thursday (Feb 18), was built since 2015 at a cost of Rp986 billion. This dam has a capacity of 56.7 million cubic meters of water.
This dam is also capable of providing irrigation water for 5,472 hectares of land as well as raw water for 0.5 cubic meters per second and also produces 3.30 megawatts of electricity.
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