the first dam in West Sulawesi: official

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry is working on the construction of the Budong-Budong Dam in Central Mamuju District, West Sulawesi, which will be the first dam in the province.

The construction of the Budong-Budong Dam is part of the national strategic projects (PSN) outlined in Presidential Regulation Number 109 of 2020. It aims to increase water storage capacity to support food and water security programs, as stated by the ministry in a press release on Sunday.

PUPR Ministry builds

PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said that the construction of the dam would be accompanied by the construction of an irrigation network.

"Thus, dams built at large costs can be beneficial because the water will be flowing to farmers' rice fields," he said, according to the statement. 

The Budong-Budong Dam is being built by the Sulawesi III River Basin Center (BWS) under the Directorate General of Water Resources of the PUPR Ministry in the context of developing and improving irrigation areas (DI) covering an area of 3,577 hectares. It will have a storage capacity of 65.18 million cubic meters.

The Head of Sulawesi III BWS, Dedi Yudha Lesmana, said the construction contract for the dam was signed on December 8, 2020. Dam construction work, meanwhile, began in September 2023.

"The construction of the first dam in West Sulawesi is still in the completion stage with physical progress at 27 percent," Lesmana noted.

The construction has been carried out with a budget of Rp1.02 trillion. The ministry noted that the Budong-Budong Dam has a potential raw water benefit of 410 liters/second.

The dam is deemed beneficial for the region, as the Central Mamuju District is expected to undergo significant development in both wetland agriculture and industries, all of which require raw water. The dam will serve as a crucial source for these activities.

The construction of this dam is also needed to control floods in disaster-prone areas, such as Budong-Budong, Topoyo, and Karossa Sub-districts, by reducing 60 percent from 341.59 cubic meters per second to 106.76 cubic meters per second, according to the press statement.

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The Central Mamuju District is traversed by seven rivers, namely the Budong-Budong, Lumu, Karama, Karossa, Benggaulu, Kamansi, and Panggajoang Rivers, which end to the Makassar Strait. The Salulebbo River, a tributary of the Budong-Budong River, will be dammed to create the Budong-Budong Dam.

The Central Mamuju District has an area of 306,527 km2 which is dominated by around 38 percent dry land and around 24 percent secondary dry land. This district consists of five sub-districts with superior commodities such as rice, oil palm, cocoa, coconut, orange, coffee, medicinal plants, and patchouli plantations.