On the Jatigede Dam

On your article entitled Indramayu to build giant dam to increase rice production on Monday, July 29, you quoted a source, Abdul Mutholib, Head of the Indramayu Irrigation Office, as saying: "The World Bank had prepared the funds to finance the (Jatigede) dam, providing that the central government acquired the land."

I would like to clarify that the World Bank has no plans to finance the Jatigede Dam. The World Bank is occasionally, and erroneously, associated with the financing of the Jatigede Dam, perhaps because we provided finance in the past to the Government to conduct a feasibility study for the dam, including environmental and social impacts. Since then, there have been no requests from the Ministry for the World Bank to provide finance for the dam, nor, based on the completed study, would we be inclined to do so.

MOHAMAD AL-ARIEF, Communications Officer, World Bank Office, Jakarta

Thank you for your clarification. --Editor