Evaluating The Budgeting Approach of Operation and Maintenance of Irrigation in Indonesia by Using Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

Currently, the Indonesian government calculates the operation and maintenance (O&M) budget by considering the size of the irrigation-area. The problem is, the O&M cost is not always proportional to the size of the area. In fact, infrastructure (such as irrigation channel and hydraulic structures) could be decisive in determining the amount of the required budget. This study will assess the difference in the O&M cost between the government’s policy and the new approach using AHP method. The new method has been formulated by the observation in West Java so this study will attempt to apply it to the various irrigation-area in Central Java. As for the result, the direct applicatoin of the formula will yield unsatisfying result hence improvisation is required. Thus, it can be concluded that the usage of AHP-based formula is not meant to be applied directly, but it requires consideration based on the characteristics of irrigation-area. But, by conducting more analysis, the previously-derived equation exhibits the abnormality i.e. the unrealistically high budget for the irrigation area with many facilities. It is also much more logical to have the linear proportionality between the budget and the number of infrastructure. By evaluating the previous work and from the results from this study, the conclusion also converges to the linear relationship. So, while the exact equation in this study is not meant to be applied universally, the most important finding is how the O&M budget is linearly proportional to the number of infrastructure.