Ministry Of PUPR Budgets Wulan Demak River Normalization Fund Of IDR 900 Billion

Workers operate heavy equipment while repairing the broken Wulan River embankment in Ketanjung Village, Karanganyar, Demak, Central Java/ANTARA PHOTO/Yusuf Nugroho/aww.

DEMAK - The Ministry of PUPR will soon carry out a 30 kilometer river normalization program with a budget of IDR 900 billion.

"Currently, the tender phase for the project is only being divided into three packages of activities," said Director General of Water Resources at the Ministry of PUPR,Bob Arthur Lombgia, when met at the diveninjau of the Wulan River left embankment at the Tanggulangin Bridge on the Kudus and Demak border, reported by ANTARA, Friday, March 22.

The program, he said, is in order to increase the capacity of the Wulangar River's reservoir when the water discharge increases can be accommodated.

The plan, he said, is that the length of the Wulan River flow from the door of the Wilalung divider dam to the sea reaches 42 kilometers, about 32 kilometers that are the target of normalization.

In addition to increasing the water capacity, later the vulnerable embankments will also be strengthened. The remaining 10 kilometers is also a priority for the government.

The Wulan River has a capacity of about 900 cubic meters per second, while during the flood the discharge reaches 1,290 cubic meters per second.

The surge in water discharge which exceeded the capacity of the Wulan River, caused damage to the river embankment which had previously also broken.

The embankment incident broke out in February 2024, at two points, each 30 meters and 10 meters. While the second incident, the length broke to reach 30 meters.

The difference with the case of the collapse of the first embankment, the current flood of river water discharge after breaking is still high. Meanwhile, the first incident after the water discharge immediately fell.

The impact of the collapse of the Wulan River embankment resulted in 97 villages spread over 11 sub-districts being flooded. Meanwhile, the number of displaced residents reached 24,991 people. The affected rice fields area reached 4,696 hectares and a 529 hectare pond.