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Wajo Regent Reports About Lake Tempe Water Elevation Until PT Energy Sengkang Contracts to South Sulawesi Governor, Ready to Facilitate to CenterHer VoiceOctober 14, 2022WAJO, Suaraya.news — Several issues in Wajo Regency whose authority is in the hands of the central government have caught the attention of the Wajo Regent, Amran Mahmud. This has been conveyed to the Governor of South Sulawesi (Sulsel), Andi Sudirman Sulaiman, to be coordinated with relevant policy makers.First, Amran submitted an application to the Governor of South Sulawesi for assistance with facilitation to the Ministry of Public Works and Spatial Planning (PUPR) so that a review of the opening and closing of the water elevation of the Lake Tempe Weir could be carried out. The elevation of the water, said Amran, greatly affects the farmers' rice yields.“The current water level is at a height of 5 meters. This high water elevation is one of the factors that reduce the frequency of rice harvests in the community, which from the usual can be harvested up to 5 times in 2 years or 3 times of rice and 2 times of secondary crops. Now it has never been harvested since it was maintained at elevation 5," said Amran Mahmud at the High Level Meeting of the South Sulawesi Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID) which was held at the Claro Hotel, Makassar City, Tuesday, October 11, 2022.Likewise, continued Amran Mahmud, fishermen complained about the lack of their catch due to the high water elevation. Different when the elevation is 3 meters, for example. “In addition, with an elevation of 5 meters, it accelerates the occurrence of floods. When it rains for a while, the houses of local residents are flooded. We hope that there will be arrangements for when it will be fully opened and when it will be closed according to the surrounding conditions," he said.In addition, Amran also admitted that he had communicated with Bulog to buy all the farmers' crops from August to December. However, due to the high price of grain, Bulog is now powerless or unable to buy at the market price. One of the triggers for the high price of grain is the increase in fuel prices and the number of crop failures in other areas, such as Java.In front of the participants of the High Level Meeting, the Chairperson of the DPD PAN Wajo hoped that the Governor of South Sulawesi would be assisted in guarding the extension of the contract between PT PLN Persero and PT Energy Sengkang, whose contract was no longer extended by PLN.“There are around 315 megawatts of our electricity that will no longer be utilized if this contract is not extended. Of course this will have a social impact, for example the termination of employees from PT Energy Sengkang which will increase the number of unemployed, he explained.In addition, when this contract is not extended, the supply of natural gas from PT Energy Equity Epic Sengkang (EEES) will also be cut off to PT Energy Sengkang. This will cause revenue-sharing funds to the regions to decrease drastically, even almost non-existent. Including, PT EEES will also lay off some of its employees."We hope that the Governor can help facilitate and jointly communicate our aspirations to relevant stakeholders in order to realize the people of South Sulawesi, especially the people of Wajo who are advanced and prosperous," hoped Amran.Responding to the request and aspirations of the Wajo Regent, the Governor of South Sulawesi, Andi Sudirman Sulaiman, promised to help facilitate this. "For elevation regulation, we have asked for a study and re-calculation because this is the authority of the Ministry of PUPR. However, we will continue to convey this again," he promised.Likewise for the extension of the contract between PT PLN and PT Energy Sengkang, Andi Sudirman also promised to oversee it at the central level. "We will schedule it and we will invite related parties to come to Wajo," said Andi Sudirman.For information, in addition to the provincial and central government, the Wajo Regent also always conveys his aspirations to legislators, both provincial and central, including his colleagues who have links to ministries related to problems faced in the regions. (*)