Mega completes week-long tour of the archipelago
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Oyos Saroso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Lampung
President Megawati Soekarnoputri ended on Monday a week-long tour across the country, with Lampung, South Sumatra and Riau provinces as the last leg of her trip.
Megawati, hoping to be reelected under the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), completed the tour just three days before the campaign period kicks off on Thursday.
In Lampung province, Megawati inaugurated Batutegi dam in Tanggamus regency here, as part of government efforts to end the electricity crisis in the area.
Located at the Way Harong village of Tanggamus regency, the dam serves both as a water reservoir and tourist site and also aims to prevent flooding.
The second largest dam in Indonesia, it will be able to irrigate 108,553 hectares of paddy fields in the surrounding area. The dam will also generate 100 gigawatt hours of electricity each year and provide 2,250s liter of clean water per second.
The Rp 634 billion (US$74.5million) project was started in 1995, financed by the state budget and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
On board a helicopter, the President continued her tour to the South Sumatra capital of Palembang, where she named a new type of rice after her mother Fatmawati, Antara news agency reported.
The President was accompanied by Minister of Trade and Industry Rini Suwandi, Minister of Agriculture Bungaran Saragih and Minister of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno.
In Riau, the President officially opened the national meeting on Western Indonesia landscape planning, attended by hundreds of government officials. However, due to the limited time and bad weather, the President had to cancel the planned inauguration of the Indragiri Hilir bridge, that connects Rumbai Jaya and Mumpa villages in Riau.
Megawati returned to Jakarta on the same day.
The week-long tour has taken her to Maluku, South Sulawesi, Papua, Central Java, West Java and Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam provinces.