Minister worries about Citarum forest destruction

Minister worries about Citarum forest destruction

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro
expressed his deep concern about forest destruction around the
Citarum water catchment areas, which he blamed for diminishing
water supplies, and in turn, power generation from Saguling,
Cirata and Jatiluhur reservoirs.

"I have seen for myself that a lot of the previously forested
area along the Citarum water catchment area has been destroyed.
This, along with the current drought, has severely affected water
levels at the three important hydropower dams," he told reporters
on Thursday after a meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz.

The Head of the National Planning Development Agency
(Bappenas) Kwik Kian Gie was also present at the meeting.

Purnomo said that the water level in the three reservoirs was
dangerously low, nearly 70 percent below normal.

"Two-thirds of the reservoir area has become dry," he said.

With such water levels, the hydropower plants at Saguling and
Cirata could only generate half of their normal capacity of 700
megawatts (MW) and 1,000 MW respectively, according to Purnomo.

The Jatiluhur hydropower plant can only produce 60 MW, far
below its normal power generation of 190 MW, he added.

"Therefore, we've decided to shut down the hydropower plants
for most of the day, only operating them between 6 p.m. and 10
p.m.," he said.

The hydropower plants mainly supply power to Greater Jakarta.

At present, according to Purnomo, water levels at the three
reservoirs had dropped to between three and four meters above the
critical level.

State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim and state
electricity company PLN have warned of imminent power outages if
heavy rains did not begin before October.

According to Nabiel, water at the three dams were dropping at
a worrying rate of about 20 centimeters per day.

Besides affecting power supplies, the government has also said
that water for tap water companies in Jakarta had dropped to 60
percent of normal.

Around 100,000 hectares of farmland have also reportedly dried
up, with crop failures estimated at 600,000 tons of rice.

The government has decided to allocate Rp 150 billion (US$17.6
million) to distribute free rice to jobless farmers and provide
them with jobs in the next two months.

Purnomo suggested an integrated policy to overcome the present
drought and prevent further problems in the future.

"We hope there will be some legislation on water resources
that can help resolve the problem of water allocation," he said.

The water resources bill is still being deliberated at the
House of Representatives.