The Ministry Of Public Works Adds The Banyan Dam Irrigation Network In NTB Starting 2026

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works (PU) will add irrigation services to the Beringin Sila Dam in Sumbawa Regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), starting next year.

The dam has been inaugurated since December 29, 2022, during the era of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)'s leadership and is now the backbone of irrigation water providers in the central region of Sumbawa Island.

"For 2026, we are working on an additional 1,700 hectares of irrigation area, so that the total service will reach 3,500 hectares," said PU Minister Dody Hanggodo in a written statement, quoted Monday, October 20.

To support the optimization of the dam function, the Ministry of Public Works through the Nusa Tenggara I River Basin Center (BBWS) has completed the improvement of the Beringin Sila irrigation area (DI) phase I network in the 2024 fiscal year including the construction of 3.68 kilometers of primary and secondary channels with a service area of 167.7 hectares.

The advanced stage will be carried out at TA 2026/2027 to expand service coverage according to the development plan, bringing the total to 3,500 hectares.

The Beringin Sila Dam itself has a capacity of 32.75 million cubic meters and an inundation area of 126 hectares has the potential to provide irrigation water services for 3,500 hectares of agricultural land, consisting of an existing area of 2,164 hectares and a new development of 1,100 hectares in the Bukit Tinggi and Pengangar areas.

With the dam, the planting index (IP) in the irrigation area increased from 130 percent to 230 percent, allowing farmers to grow rice twice and corn once a year.

In addition to the irrigation function, the Beringin Sila Dam also provides other benefits in the form of providing 76 liters of raw water per second, the potential for PLTM with a capacity of 1.4 MW and flood reduction of up to 85 cubic meters per second or about 32.7 percent of the potential for flooding in Utan District.

The dam area is also developed for capture fisheries and water tourism, which is expected to encourage economic growth of the surrounding community.

With the addition of the irrigation network, it is hoped that there will be a guarantee of water availability in order to achieve food self-sufficiency as launched by the Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka governments.

"Optimizing the utilization of the Beringin Sila Dam will continue to be gradually improved until the entire irrigation network is fully functioning to support food self-sufficiency," he concluded.