Mega completes week-long tour of the archipelago
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.