Disbursing IDR 287 Billion, The Location Of Lapindo Sidoarjo Mud Will Be Transformed Into A Geotourism Area

Lapindo mud (Photo: intermediate)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) through the Sidoarjo Mud Control Center (PPLS) of the Directorate General (Ditjen) of Water Resources continues to carry out programs to handle the infrastructure for controlling lapindo mudflows in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Head of the Sidoarjo Mud Control Center T. Maksal Saputra said the infrastructure management program was continued in accordance with its duties and functions to ensure handling of the affected communities.

"The government's attention has not decreased, it remains a priority for controlling Sidoarjo mud," Maksal said as quoted from the official website of the Ministry of PUPR, Thursday, March 28.

Maksal said that the Ministry of PUPR had allocated a budget of IDR 287 billion for the main activities of handling lapindo mud.

In detail, for the flow of mud to the Porong River, it reaches approximately 20 million cubic meters per year, the increase in mud retaining embankments per year which has now reached more than 2 kilometers (km) and the gradual construction of 10 reservoirs.

"The embankment is homogeneous with a length of 11 km, the top width of the embankment reaches 5 meters and the reservoir area reaches 5,557,848 square meters (557.7 hectares). In addition, the embankment has a capacity of 44,622,788 square meters," he said.

Dalam rencana pengembangan wilayah, kata Maksal, Kementerian PUPR melalui PPLS merencanakan kawasan yang sudah dibebaskan menjadi kawasan geowisata. "Tujuannya, yaitu menumbuh potensi ekonomi masyarakat setempat dan pengembangan ekonomi daerah sekitar, sebagai upaya konservasi dan edukasi," tuturnya.

Later, the geotourism area will be divided into several zones, namely the central platform zone of the burst, the Sidoarjo mud museum zone, the green house and outbond zones, the museum embryo zone and the mud utilization zone. Then, there is the sports zone, the uijau open space zone (RTH), the fauna storage and conservation pool zone and the water green open space zone.