VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurated the Nanjung tunnel, with an inlet length of 28 meters and outlet length of 100 meters, in Lagadar Village, Margaasih Sub-district, Bandung District, West Java on Wednesday.

Jokowi, along with West Java Governor M. Ridwan Kamil, Bandung District Head Dadang M. Naseer, and Minister of Public Works and Public Housing M. Basuki Hadimuljono, pressed a siren button to mark the inauguration of the tunnel.

"Alhamdulillah (Thank Allah), the construction of Nanjung Tunnel, which is part of the flood control system in the Bandung basin area, has been completed, and we have inaugurated it today," President Jokowi noted in his remarks.

The president remarked that the flood control system in the Bandung basin area comprised several large projects: normalization in the upper reaches of the river, construction of reservoirs, construction of retention ponds, and construction of flood pathways in Cisangkuy.

"Now, it is the construction of Nanjung Tunnel. We hope there will still be one or two that we want to complete in 2020. A lot of homework still remains in the form of a flood way and retention pond," he stated.

"If this can be completed, Insya Allah, after 2020, these floods that always occurred in the Bandung basin area, Insya Allah, would not occur after 2020," he affirmed.

He quoted West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil as saying that the Nanjung tunnel has had a positive impact on flood management in the Bandung basin area.

"Earlier, (the governor of West Java) said that this year, floodwaters had receded quickly, from 490 square kilometers to 80 square kilometers. The drop is drastic. In the past, (floods) had affected 159 thousand residents, and now, down to 77 thousand people. Insya Allah, we will deal with (the problem) in the upstream area," he stated.

Bandung's flood management in the upstream region does not only concern infrastructure but also rehabilitation of landforms in the Citarum watershed and reforestation.

"If this is completed, then we will go downstream that also requires attention. This is a huge amount of work that we complete one by one. Hence, once again, we are optimistic that by the end of 2020, flooding could be significantly minimized in the Bandung region," he added.(ANTARA)