Jakarta – The Executive Office of the President (KSP) has called for an acceleration of infrastructure development in North Penajam Paser Regency, East Kalimantan, to support the future Nusantara Capital City.
The Office has pushed related ministries/agencies through a coordination meeting on Wednesday (22/6) to immediately begin the physical construction of the Lawe-Lawe Dam and three supporting roads connecting the future capital with its satellite cities.
“This is such a long and tiring process, but all parties need to act in sync. KSP is ready to assist all these processes. Therefore, the coordination meeting is expected to produce some recommendations for policy makers,” said Deputy Chief of Staff for Infrastructure, Energy and Investment Febry Calvin Tetelepta.
The coordination meeting which was held at the Bina Graha Building Jakarta was attended by representatives of the Directorate General of Highways and the Directorate General of Water Resources of the the Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Ministry, as well as the Acting Regent of North Penajam Paser, Hamdam.
KSP also suggested three roads, namely the Riko-Maridan road and the Telemow Ring road in Sepaku District, as well as the Gunung Mulia-Sebakung Jaya road in Babulu District to be accelerated by the Directorate General of Highways.
In addition, the central government proposed the construction process of the Lawe-Lawe Dam, which has been stalled since 2018, be resumed by the Directorate General of Water Resources.
Although the availability of raw water resources from the installation of the PUPR Ministry is sufficient, Febry added, the existence of the Lawe-Lawe Dam would be beneficial to the wider community.
“There’s nothing wrong with immediately constructing the dam so that the water needs for the community around IKN can be met,” he said.
In addition to the Sepaku Semoi Dam and the Sepaku River intake, the Lawe-Lawe Dam in Penajam sub-district is also expected to be a raw water resource in the IKN area. However, the Lawe-Lawe Dam construction project which started in 2014 was temporarily halted in November 2017 due to the fiscal issue of the local government.
By then, the dam construction was proposed to be resumed and completed through the authority of the central government. KSP would further monitor and hold a follow-up coordination meeting with related ministries/agencies to discuss the matter.
