After weeks of delays, the government kicked off on Monday the filling of Jatigede Dam in Sumedang regency, West Java, marking the completion of another major infrastructure project under the leadership of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.

The government finally began inundating the dam, set to be the country'€™s second largest, after postponing the plan from its initial scheduled date of Aug. 1.

Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimoeljono officially led the dam'€™s filling ceremony by pushing a control button to close down the Cimanuk River'€™s diversion tunnel gate.

The closing of the gate marked the start of the initial impounding of the dam, which has the capacity to hold 877 million cubic meters of water and covers 4,896 hectares of water catchment area that used to be the land of 28 subdistricts.

'€œThis doesn'€™t mean that [the establishment of] Jatigede Dam has come to an end. Instead, this marks the beginning of the management of the Cimanuk River'€™s water resource,'€ Basuki said at the ceremony, referring to the river from which the dam gets its water.

Also attending the ceremony on Monday were West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan, Sumedang Deputy Regent Eka Setiawan and Cimanuk Cisanggarung River Management Center head Trisasongko Widianto.

Jatigede Dam is Indonesia'€™s 231st dam but the first ever built on the Cimanuk River. Only Jatiluhur reservoir in Purwakarta, West Java, has a larger capacity than Jatigede.

The construction of the dam, the development of which was initiated in 1963, started in November 2007, involving Chinese company Sinohydro Corporation Limited and four state-owned construction firms.

Basuki said the investment value for the project was US$467 million. The dam, he continued, would later be officially named Tembong Agung Dam as requested by local residents.

Once fully operational, the dam, according to Basuki, will be able to help irrigate 90,000 hectares of farmland in Indramayu, Majalengka and Cirebon regencies.

Governor Ahmad said the dam would also function as a source of raw water for over 100,000 families with a water debit of 3.5 cubic meters per second.

'€œ[It] will also provide energy through a power plant with the capacity of 110 megawatts and control floods in a 14,000-ha area,'€ Ahmad said.

Basuki, however, admitted that the government had yet to finish paying compensation and cash assistance to affected families. Of the 10,924 families considered eligible for payments, he said, only 8,238 had received the compensation of Rp 122 million (US$8,690) per family and cash assistance of Rp 29 million per family.

He promised that the government would complete the payments by the time the filling was completed in the next 55 days. '€œI put myself as the guarantor,'€ Basuki said.

Fifty-year-old Juana, a resident of Jemah subdistrict, an area that will be inundated with water in less than two weeks, said she would not move from the subdistrict until she received the cash assistance promised by the government.

Jokowi, who was inaugurated as the country'€™s seventh president in October last year, expects to build 49 new dams nationwide during his five-year term in office to improve the agriculture sector. Jokowi has also pledged to extensively develop the country'€™s transportation infrastructure.

Earlier this year, the government officially launched the operation of the 116-kilometer Cipali toll road in West Java that is aimed at easing traffic along Java'€™s northern coast (Pantura) highway.

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