Minister Of PUPR Explores Sea Embankment Cooperation With China's NHRI

JAKARTA - Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono is exploring wave-breaking and sea embankments cooperation with China's Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute (NHRI).

Basuki emphasized the importance of making a physical model of the sea wall by utilizing the Water Resources laboratory in Bandung and the Coastal laboratory in North Bali.

"This is a transfer of knowledge from China to Indonesia. The financing plan will use a loan scheme," Basuki said in his statement, in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday, September 26.

During a working visit to China, PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono held a meeting with the NHRI to explore cooperation opportunities for breakingwaters and various kinds of sea wall structures that might be implemented in Indonesia.

For this technical meeting, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dai Liqun, expressed his gratitude for the efforts to establish cooperation between the Ministry of PUPR and the Republic of Indonesia.

"We will follow up immediately," said Dai Liqun.

The meeting will be followed up with the planned visit of the NHRI team to Indonesia in the near future. The NHRI will review the available basic design data and studies compiled by a team of experts from South Korea, the Netherlands and the PUPR Ministry team.

Traditional wavebreakers are usually made of broken stones resulting from mountain explosions, taking a long time to build and susceptible to storm damage. The NHRI is developing a new innovation in the form of a caisson-shaped wave solver, an upper design resembling an eight and an elliptical bottom, which will be planted deep enough in soil.

This innovation has been implemented in Jiangsu Province, China, along 27 km. This new innovation is heavier and more resistant to waves, allowing construction time to be three times faster and cost savings of up to 30 percent. Apart from wave breaking, this structure can also be used for river revetment and is being developed for mills.

Meanwhile, the Main Expert Engineer of the Ministry of PUPR Arie Setiadi said that the North Coast of Java faces the threat of sinking coastal areas with a land decline rate of 15-16 cm per year and significant soft soil problems.

"Currently echosounding is being carried out to collect data on BATIMEtry and land investigations in the design of a 22 km sea diperkes from Bekasi to Tangerang. This project is designed in an integrated manner with sea embankments that function double as highways to reduce congestion in Jakarta, and as an estari dam to become a storage of fresh water. However, it is necessary to improve the sanitation of the community first, because there are 13 rivers that lead in the area, so that the embankment does not become a septic tank," said Arie as well.