Kunker To Uzbekistan, Basuki Opens Opportunities For Air Infrastructure Cooperation

Basuki Hadimuljono made a working visit to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (doc. Kpupr)

JAKARTA - Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono made a working visit to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the visit, Basuki held a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Water Resources (SDA) Uzbekistan Shavkat Khamraev, on Tuesday, June 11.

During the meeting, Basuki conveyed a number of opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in the field of water resource infrastructure (SDA), especially in terms of irrigation modernization, community-based natural resources infrastructure programs and natural resource infrastructure development using the Government Cooperation with Business Entities (KPBU) or Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

"Indonesia has developed several irrigation technologies to maintain water efficiency for irrigation, namely big gun sprinklers, precast modular technology and cut-throat flume (CTF) used in several Indonesian irrigation areas based on the conditions of each region," Basuki said in a written statement, Wednesday, June 12.

He added that Big Gun Sprinkler is a technology suitable for developing dry land because of its efficiency. Meanwhile, modular irrigation canals are irrigation channel technology that uses precast concrete that can be applied to various dimensional channel designs and is easy to produce.

Lastly, the cut-throat flume (CTF) technology is useful for building more effective and efficient irrigation channels.

According to Basuki, Uzbekistan has modernized a regional irrigation system to increase water supply to the agricultural sector by implementing concrete channels to reduce water loss.

"Reflecting on the experience of modernizing irrigation between the two countries, we are open to collaborating with Uzbekistan in the field of water resource infrastructure development," he said.

Furthermore, Basuki also invited experience sharing to increase community empowerment in providing basic services and infrastructure in urban/village areas.

"Indonesia has experience in community-based infrastructure projects that focus on increasing public awareness so that it actively participates and is responsible for the infrastructure they build. The role of the government is to facilitate the community," he said.

Responding to this, the Minister of SDA Uzbekistan, Shavkat Khamraev, expressed his interest in development in Indonesia. According to Shavkat, his party is very impressed with Minister Basuki who is a diplomat and always works hard to help with relations between Indonesia and Uzbekistan.

"We hope that Indonesia's relations with Uzbekistan can continue to be improved. Especially cooperation in agriculture and irrigation," he added.