Jatigede Dam To Be Filled In October

Jakarta, June 4 (Antara) - The gate of Jatigede dam in Sumedang District, West Java, will be closed on October 1, 2013 in order for the dam to be filled with water, Public Works Minister Joko Kirmanto has said. "We will start filling the dam with water on October 1 this year and thus the nearby people should have been relocated by then. Everything has been arranged for their relocation," Joko said after a coordination meeting on economy here on Tuesday. The minister said the coordination meeting was not conducted to discuss when the construction of the dam project will be completed, but to talk about the way how to relocate the people who live around the dam. According to him, the compensation funds for the people affected by the dam construction project had been made available, and some were provided by the Ministry of Public Housing. "The affected people will have the houses outside the dam area. The funds for their relocation are provided by the Ministry of Public Housing," Joko said. Further, he added that based on the planning of West Java provincial government, the relocation of the affected people would not be far away from their current residence. "The relocation will not be very far away from the dam site, and hopefully it will not disturb the livelihood," Joko said. He also denied the project was funded by investor from China, but from the state budget and some of the funds came from China in the form of a loan. Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Economy Hatta Rajasa said the JatiGede dam with the water volume of up to one billion cubic meters would be the second largest in Indonesia after Jatiluhur dam in Purwakarta. "The dam will have a potential to improve the local people`s welfare because it will capable to irrigate 90-thousand hectare of rice fields, to generate electricity power, and for other economic activities," Hatta said.