Minister PU Claims There Are No More Isolated Areas After the Great Flood of Sumatra

JAKARTA - The Minister of Public Works (PU), Dody Hanggodo, conveyed the latest developments regarding the post-flood and landslide conditions in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, which have passed about 52 days.

Until January 15, 2026, Dody claimed that there were no isolated areas. All assistance can now be done by land and no longer rely on air. Even so, he admitted that there were still roads and bridges that were damaged and needed to be repaired.

"So as of today, thank God, it has been 50 days (handling), and the roads, there are no more isolated areas."

"We are aware that there are still many isolated villages, many isolated sub-districts, because I said at the beginning (of the work) the bridge we just worked on was only about 15 percent."

"Like today, there are still bridges that are very damaged. The Sibolga route, we can still use the roads a little bit by turning through the provincial road so that it can be said that for North Sumatra there are no more isolated areas, absolutely no. The same is true for Aceh and West Sumatra," said Dody in a media briefing at the PU Ministry's office, Jakarta, Friday, January 16, 2026.

Dody reported that 99 national roads and 33 bridges were affected by floods and landslides. Currently, the entire national roads and bridges have been operated functionally.

Meanwhile, for the infrastructure of the affected areas reached 2,710 units, consisting of 1,900 regional roads and 753 regional bridges. Currently, said Dody, his party is continuing to make improvements.

"The regional road is functional, it is probably around 72 percent. Well, the regional bridge is still very, very minimal 12 percent."

"Because it is amblas, many need bailey bridges, many need Aramco. So, we work hand in hand with the TNI, Polri, and the community so that we can complete this bridge business in the shortest possible time," he said.

He also conveyed that at least 121 national rivers and 51 regional rivers were affected. His party is also normalizing the river.

"So, our main focus on the river is that besides the problem of river normalization, we also have to fix the estuaries because some of our people are fishermen."

"So, almost all the estuaries are covered with wood and the sediment we have to clean up, but in reality it's not so easy because it requires more tools. So, most of the estuary cleaning requires tools," said Dody.

Then, he continued, there were 179 PDAM or SPAM affected in three provinces. Even so, during the rapid response period, 89 of them are now functional.

"This function means that it is not 100 percent because almost all of the intake has problems," he said.