T

he Public Works and Public Housing Ministry has wrapped up the bidding process for the development of 13 dams projects this year following the signing of the contracts for three remaining dams on Tuesday in Jakarta.

The three dams are the Sindangheula dam in Banten, Rotiklod dam in East Nusa Tenggara and Bintang Bano dam in West Nusa Tenggara, with combined construction costs of Rp 1.87 trillion (US$137 million).

'€œSo that'€™s a wrap for the 13 contracts,'€ the ministry'€™s director general of water resources Mudjiadi said after the signing of the contracts.

The construction contract for Bintang Bano dam was awarded to construction firm Brantas Abipraya and Bahagia Bangunnusa, while that for Rotiklot dam was given to state construction firm PT Nindya Karya and PT Universal Suryaprima.

Meanwhile, the construction contract for the Sindangheula dam was awarded to state construction firms PT Pembangunan Perumahan and PT Hutama Karya.

Mudjiadi said that with the signing of the contracts for the three dams, the directorate general was able to reach this year'€™s budget disbursement target of 93 percent, the same figure as the ministry'€™s overall target.

According to Mudjiadi, as of Nov. 23, budget realization had reached 63 percent.

Previously, the ministry signed contracts for the other 10 dams, which are spread nationwide and include Tapin dam in South Kalimantan, Sei Gong dam in Riau, as well as Raknamo dam in East Nusa Tenggara. The total cast of all the dam projects is estimated to be Rp 9.2 trillion.

During the signing, Mudjiadi also reiterated the ministry'€™s commitment to keep the development of the dams safe and clean.

Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono has previously complained about the mess that has plagued various infrastructure development projects. He stated that many development projects involving foreign companies, such as the mass rapid transit project in Jakarta, had been carried out in a cleaner and safer fashion.

'€œIf safety is compromised, the project leader will be fired,'€ Mudjiadi said.

Mudjiadi also revealed the ministry'€™s plan to sign construction contracts for eight new dams next year, which would include Ciawi dam, worth Rp 1.69 trillion, and Sukamahi dam, worth Rp 1.1 trillion, both in West Java.

The directorate general already conducted early bidding for its 355 projects in September, which totaled around 3,100 project packages relating to dams and irrigation projects to be built in 2016.

It plans to offer another 2,103 projects by December to reduce the number of project tender bidding process to be held in January.

'€œI hope that we will be able to spend 5 percent of our budget in January,'€ he said, adding that 70 percent of the contracts were scheduled to finish in December.

The ministry received the highest budget allocation from the 2016 state budget with a total of Rp 104.1 trillion. Going forward, the ministry has set a target of building a total of 65 dams during its five-year term, with 49 new dams and 16 ongoing dam projects that were begun under the previous administration. (fsu)