K

upang Mayor Jonas Salean has given his assurance that the central government will be able to kick off the development of a dam in Kolhua subdistrict, Maulafa district this year despite resistance from a number of land owners.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Jonas said the local government would continue to disseminate information on the project to the public with family-style approaches to persuade those who were still refusing to sell their land.

'€œI am optimistic that the dam can be developed starting from this year,'€ he said, adding that the local administration would conduct a survey to identify whether it was land owners or their farm laborers who actually opposed the establishment of the dam.

Jonas said the dam would need Rp 580 billion (US$41.2 million) from the state budget to be built. Once fully operational, the dam will cover 40 hectares of land and will be able to retain 7 million cubic meters of water.

Jonas said he believed that the land acquisition for the planned dam would go smoothly as the dam would help the city settle its long-standing clean water crisis.

'€œWe hope to wrap up land acquisition problems in the near future,'€ said Jonas.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, who was inaugurated as the country'€™s seventh president in October last year, has pledged to build 49 new dams nationwide during his five-year term in office to improve the agriculture sector.