PUPR Working On The First Dam In West Sulawesi Telan Cost Rp1.02 Trillion

Illustration. The beginning of the construction of the Semantok Dam in Nganjuk Regency, East Java. (doc PUPR)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) is working on the construction of the Budong-Budong Dam in Central Mamuju Regency, West Sulawesi (Sulbar).

The first dam in West Sulawesi is included in the list of national strategic projects (PSN) in accordance with Presidential Regulation Number 109 of 2020 to increase the number of water storage in order to support food and water security programs.

PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the dam construction would be accompanied 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," said Minister Basuki based on a press release from the Ministry of PUPR, Sunday, February 25, which was confiscated by Antara.

The Budong-Budong Dam was built by the Sulawesi III River Basin Center (BWS), the Directorate General of Water Resources of the Ministry of PUPR in the context of developing and increasing irrigation areas (DI) covering an area of 3,577 hectares. This dam will have a capacity of 65.18 million cubic meters.

Head of BWS Sulawesi III of the Ministry of PUPR, Dedi Yudha Lesmana, said the construction contract for the construction of the Budong-Budong Dam had been started since December 8, 2020.

Meanwhile, dam construction work began in September 2023.

"The construction of the first dam in West Sulawesi is still in the construction stage with a physical progress of 27 percent," said Dedi.

The dam construction was carried out by contractors PT Abipraya-Bumi Karsa, KSO and Supervision Consultant PT Indra Karya - PT Tuah Agung Anugrah - PT Cirajasa EC, KSO at a cost of Rp1.02 trillion.

According to this information, the Budong-Budong Dam has a potential raw water benefit of 410 liters/second.

This is believed to be useful because Central Mamuju Regency is expected to carry out many development activities, both in the wetland agriculture sector and industrial activities, which require raw water from dam water sources.

"In addition to irrigation and raw water supply, the construction of this dam is also very much needed as flood control for disaster-prone areas, such as Budong-Budong, Topoyo, and Karossa sub-districts, by reducing 60 percent from 341.59 cubic meters per second to 106.76 cubic meters per second," the statement said.

Seven rivers were passed in Central Mamuju Regency, namely the Budong-Budong River, Lumu, Karama, Karossa, Benggaulu, Kamani, and Panggajoang, which flowed from hilly areas in the east to the west coastal area and empties in the waters of the Makassar Strait.

The Budong-Budong Dam will be built by stemming the Salulebbo River which is a tributary of the Budong-Budong river.

Central Mamuju Regency has an area of 306,527 km2 which is dominated by dry land of around 38 percent and about 24 percent of secondary dry land.

This district consists of five sub-districts, namely Tobadak, Pangale, Budong-Budong, Topoyo, and Karossa sub-districts, namely Tobadak, Pangale, Budong-Budong, and Karossa sub-districts, with superior commodities such as rice and nutmeg food crops as well as oil palm, cocoa, coconut, orange, coffee, medicinal plants, and nilam.