Support Agricultural Productivity, PU Continues To Build Karangnongko Dam

The Karangnongko Dam Project in Ngelo Village and Mendenrejo Village, which are located on the border of Bojonegoro and Blora Regencies. ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Public Works

JAKARTA - In order to support food and water self-sufficiency, the Ministry of Public Works (PU) will continue the construction of the Karangnongko Dam.

PU Minister Dody Hanggodo said that the water management from the dam is not only a matter of storage, but also concerns the management of water availability throughout the year, especially for irrigation areas.

Water is an important element in ensuring the sustainability of national food production.

"With the completion of the physical construction of the dam, the next focus is accelerating the development of a technical irrigation network. This is important to support agricultural productivity and increase the number of harvest periods for farmers," said Dody in Jakarta, quoted from ANTARA, Saturday, August 2.

The Ministry of Public Works is committed to completing the construction of dams that have entered the construction stage (on going) to support President Prabowo Subianto's Astacita Vision, especially in achieving food self-sufficiency, energy, and national water security.

In 2025, one of the government's focuses is to continue the construction of the Karangnongko Dam in Ngelo Village and Mendenrejo Village, which are on the border of Bojonegoro and Blora Regencies.

The Karangnongko Dam is one of the efforts to strengthen water resource infrastructure as part of the PU608 strategy in encouraging economic growth of up to 8 percent in 2029.

Construction of the Karangnongko Dam began to be carried out since 2023 by the Bengawan Solo River Basin Center (BBWS), through two work packages with a contract value of IDR 1.26 trillion with a target completion of 2026.

This dam has a capacity of 59.1 million m3 designed to irrigate an irrigation area (DI) of 63,774 hectares (ha) through the Irrigation Area (DI) of Karangonko 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.

This dam is also projected to supply water in the Solo Valley Werken (irrigation network) area and flood control since the Dutch East Indies government which stretches from Bojonegoro, Tuban, Lamongan, Gresik and Surabaya) an area of 62,000 ha. The technical irrigation system designed will utilize the Bengawan Solo River to ensure optimal water supply, so that it can increase planting intensity and harvest every year.

With an inundation area of 1,026.55 ha, the Karangnongko Dam is also designed to provide benefits to increase water storage reserves in order to ensure the sustainability of raw water supply of 1,150 liters/second for Bojonegoro, Ngawi, Blora, and Tuban Regencies.

The raw water supply from the Karangnongko Dam is projected to meet the drinking water needs for 270,305 people.

The Karangnongko Dam also functions as a flood control for the Bengawan Solo River by reducing the flood discharge by around 760 ha.

The existence of this dam will help optimize flood control, especially in the downstream area of Lamongan Regency which has been relying on the Bojonegoro Movement Dam, Babat Movement Dam, and Sembayat Movement Dam.