Increase Irrigation Supply, Ministry Of PUPR Accelerates Construction Of Karangnongko Dam At Bojonegoro And Blora Borders

Head of BBWS Bengawan Solo Maryadi Utama. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

The Directorate General of Water Resources of the Ministry of PUPR continues to build dams to increase the supply of irrigation water for agricultural land throughout Indonesia.

With the addition of water supply from the dam, Indonesia is expected to meet national water and food security.

One of the dams that is in the preparation stage for construction is the Karangnongko Dam which is located on the border of Bojonegoro Regency, East Java and Blora Regency, Central Java.

The construction of the Dam is contained in the Regulation of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Number 21 of 2022, namely the Second Amendment to the Regulation of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Number 7 of 2021 concerning Amendments to the National Strategic Project List (PSN).

The Coordination Meeting for the acceleration of the construction of the Karangnongko Dam was held by the Directorate General of Water Resources of the Ministry of PUPR through the Bengawan Solo River Basin Center (BBWS) together with the Blora Regency Government at the end of April 2023.

Until now, the progress of dam construction has entered the preparation stage for land acquisition for the Blora area.

Head of BBWS Bengawan Solo Maryadi Utama hopes that the support of all parties will accelerate the construction of the Karangnongko Dam.

"Hopefully the construction of dams that enter the National Strategic Project can run smoothly according to the target and later provide benefits by improving the welfare of the surrounding community," said Maryadi Utama in a written statement, quoted Friday, May 5.

The Karangnongko Dam technically has an inundation area of 1,026.55 Ha with an effective capacity of 59.1 million m3. This dam is projected to supply irrigation water in the Solo Valley Werken area of 62,000 Ha.

Solo Valley Werken itself is a program for the construction of irrigation networks and construction of flood control since the Dutch East Indies Government which stretched from Bojonegoro, Tuban, Lamongan, Gresik, and Surabaya.

The irrigation water supply of the Karangnongko Dam will be distributed through the Irrigation Area (DI) of Karangongko Kiri (Bora Regency) covering an area of 1,746 Ha with a discharge of 2.85 m3/second and DI Karangnongko Kanan (Bojonegoro Regency) covering an area of 5,203 Ha with a discharge of 7.90 m3/second.

In addition to irrigating agricultural land, the Karangnongko Dam and its three lower Movement Dams, namely the Bojonegoro Movement Dam, the Babat Movement Dam, and the Sembayat Movement Dam will later operate in an integrated manner to provide water for irrigation and raw water of 1,155 liters/second in the Bengawan Solo Hilir area located in Ngawi, Bojonegoro, Blora, Tuban, Lamongan, to Gresik Regencies.

Meanwhile, PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the presence of dams throughout the country had increased the planting index, so that rice production nationally also increased.

"The construction of the dam is followed by the construction of an irrigation network. Thus, dams built at large costs can be useful because the water is confirmed to flow to farmers' fields," he added.