VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Deputy Governor of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Josef Nae Soi echoed President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's) promise to build 13 additional dams in NTT to take the total to 20 in the area.

"During his recent visit to NTT, I had the opportunity to converse with the president over increasing the number of dams in the area, and he had made assurance that in the next five years, more dams would be built to reach the total figure of 20," he remarked in Kupang on Friday.

The deputy governor made the statement while delivering a speech at the coordination meeting to discuss steps to accelerate the provision of clean water in the province.

Soi remarked that East Nusa Tenggara was in dire need of water. He pointed out that in other areas, NTT was already identified as a drought-affected area.

Soi noted that from his past experiences, whenever outsiders had expressed interest to work in East Nusa Tenggara, the question that constantly arose was the availability of water and electricity.

"I raise this question that mandates serious attention at this coordination meeting. Firstly, we save the idealistic dimension. We thereafter save discussions that are theories. Now, we must start to give focused attention on what I call the reality dimension, contextual. That is, several people are in desperate need of water, " he emphasized.

The former expert staff of the minister of law and human rights spoke while drawing reference to management science wherein he admitted to being more interested in employing the term collaboration instead of coordination. This is since it emphasizes mutually symbiotic relationships.

He opined that any sectoral ego in coordination is something arbitrary, whereas collaboration entailed a form of give and take.

"This is since the term that has gained greater popularity according to nomenclature is coordination, so it may be used. However, one needs to bear in mind that the term may be coordination, but the connotation is collaboration," he reiterated.

Moreover, the ex-member of the House of Representatives' Commission V revealed that meeting the water demand must not necessitate the use of structures and not debate authority. If regulations are posing a hindrance to meeting the obligation to provide water to the community, they can be discussed to be amended swiftly.

"The point is that the people must be able to access water. How do we provide water to the people? Only then, from here, look for water sources and ways to conserve water. How do we maintain the water resources. Let us work on this together," he stated.

During a visit to Belu District to officiate the Rotiklot Dam, President Jokowi affirmed that water is the key to realizing prosperity in NTT.

"I convey that NTT's prosperity cannot be achieved without water; forget it. The key is water," he stated.

President Jokowi pointed out that if only one dam was built in other provinces, seven were constructed in NTT while work on the Raknamo Dam in Kupang District and Rotiklot Dam had been completed. (ANTARA)