Member of Commission V of the Indonesian House of Representatives Mori Hanafi, urged the government to accelerate the construction of irrigation networks at dams that have been built so that the benefits can be felt immediately by the community.
"Indeed, there are many issues with incomplete irrigation networks at several dams. This is not limited to the Meninting Dam, which was recently inaugurated by the president," said Mori Hanafi.
He said that delays in the construction of irrigation networks meant that a number of dams were not functioning optimally, even though the main infrastructure had been completed.
For example, Mori mentioned the Mila Dam and Tanju Dam in Dompu Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, which until now have not been supported by an adequate irrigation network.
According to him, the Tanju Dam, which was inaugurated in 2018, has the potential to irrigate around 2,200 hectares of rice fields. However, due to the lack of an irrigation network, the dam can only irrigate a little over 100 hectares of land.
