500,000 irrigation networks damaged

Public Works Minister Joko Kirmanto has said that while the government targeted to repair 1.5 million irrigation networks by 2009, 500,000 irrigation networks has just been discovered to be damaged. “We just have to keep working and upgrading¨, he said when sending off 15 staff from his ministry to the Netherlands on a scholarship program. Indonesia needs to have experts in the future to manage water, added Djoko. Irrigation is important to support rice development in the country.