President Joko Widodo inaugurated Tapin Dam in Tapin regency, South Kalimantan, Thursday (18/2/2021). All regional heads in South Kalimantan were asked to work hard to reforest land to prevent flooding from recurring.
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JUMARTO YULIANUS/NINA SUSILO
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KOMPAS/JUMARTO YULIANUS
President Joko Widodo (left) signed the inscription while inaugurating the Tapin Dam in Tapin Regency, South Kalimantan, Thursday (18/2/2021).
RANTAU, KOMPAS — President Joko Widodo inaugurated Tapin Dam in Tapin regency, South Kalimantan, Thursday (18/2/2021). The dam, valued at Rp 986.5 billion, plays an important role in flood control in South Kalimantan, which needs to be followed by massive reforestation of land in the watershed areas so that flooding does not happen again.
The President said the floods in South Kalimantan covered a very large area and required comprehensive handling from upstream to downstream. "I entrust the governor and all regents to make intervention in land rehabilitation very important. Reforestation or replanting in lands, especially those related to watershed areas, will soon be carried out on a large scale if we don\'t want to be hit by floods in the future," he said.
Tapin Dam is located in Pipitak Jaya village, Piani district, about 30 kilometers from Rantau, the capital of Tapin regency. The dam was built in 2015 by the Public Works and Housing Ministry and the impounding process began in October 2020.
We don\'t want to be hit by floods in the future.
The dam has a capacity of 56.77 million cubic meters and is able to reduce flooding by 172 cubic meters per second. The dam also plays an important role in strengthening food security as it provides irrigation for 5,472 hectares of agricultural land, provides water inputs at 0.5 cubic meters per second, and generates 3.3 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
"Because of the existence of Tapin Dam, flooding in Tapin regency can be reduced very drastically, only a small part of the area is affected by flooding. This is the function of the dam. Apart from irrigating rice fields, it also generates electricity and provides raw inputs, also in order to control floods,” said the President when inaugurating the dam.
The flood in South Kalimantan that occurred in January 2021 was said to be a major disaster the like of which had not happened in more than 50 years. The natural disaster caused 102,340 homes to be submerged and 176,290 families, or 633,723 people, to be affected by the flood. At least 135,656 people were forced to evacuate to safer areas and 35 people died.
KOMPAS/JUMARTO YULIANUS
The Tapin Dam in Tapin Regency, South Kalimantan, was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo, Thursday (18/2/2021).
Logistic path alternative
Acting South Kalimantan governor Safrizal ZA said the people of South Kalimantan were grateful for the existence of the Tapin Dam. Before it was inaugurated by the President, this dam had very effectively controlled floods in Tapin.
"During the last big flood, one of the versatile advantages of this dam was to withstand flooding so that Tapin became one of the regencies least affected by flooding," said the director general of regional administration development at the Home Affairs Ministry.
The local government also proposed the construction of a western way from Marabahan, Tapin, to Tanjung, the border of East Kalimantan. This western route will connect Banjarmasin with the Batulicin area up to the prospective capital city of the country.
Currently, the existing road is a single way. Therefore, if the road is flooded, this road has the risk of disrupting the logistics distribution line.
