Govt has no money to repair waterways

Govt has no money to repair waterways

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post/Tangerang

Farmers in Tangerang fear bad harvests this year as the regency
administration has failed to repair many damaged irrigation
canals.

"We only have Rp 500 million (US$56,179) available from the
budget to dredge the sediment in the canals, but the total repair
work will cost an estimated Rp 5 billion," head of the regency
agriculture agency, Nana Mulyana, said on Thursday.

There are many leaks in parts along the 404 kilometers of
irrigation canals that are meant to provide water for tens of
thousands of hectares of rice fields.

Usman Gumanti, head of the agency's Water Usage Management
division explained that the canals had never been dredged since
they were built in 1970.

"During the wet season, water will overflow the canals and
flood some rice fields, but in the dry season like now, no water
flows out because the sediment has built up to a point where it
is now blocking the flow in some areas," he said.

Nana Mulyana said that another 9,000 hectares of rice fields,
ironically in the vicinity of the Cisadane and Cidurian rivers,
would also have failed harvests due to a lack of water.

"Both rivers feed water into the irrigation canals ... The
water volume, however, has been drastically reduced since April,
when the dry season started," he explained.

The affected districts are Kronjo, Kemiri, Mauk, Rajeg,
Pakuhaji, Teluk Naga and Kosambi.

Leaks occurring at nine out of ten sluice gates at the Pasar
Baru Dam have also affected water supply to 9,082 hectares of
rice fields in Pasar Kemis and Sukadiri districts.

Tangerang regency has a total of 40,000 hectares of rice
fields. Over 23,000 hectares of the rice fields get their water
exclusively from the irrigation canals, nearly 3,500 hectares
partly depend on the irrigation system and 554 hectares use
simple irrigation systems, while the rest depend entirely on
rain.