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Ngada Regency

Overview

01Overview

Ngada Regency is one of the regencies on the island of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. It is bordered by East Manggarai Regency to the west and Nagekeo Regency to the east, with the Flores Sea to the north and the Sawu Sea to the south. The Regency, which covers an area of 1,736.83 km2, had a population of 142,254 at the 2010 census, which increased to 165,254 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid 2025 was 176,462 (comprising 87,071 males and 89,391 females). The town of Bajawa is the capital of Ngada Regency.

Culture

01Language

The principal language in Ngada is Ngadha, but there are several indigenous languages in Ngada based on their ethnicity. People from Aimere, Bajawa, Golewa, Inerie and Jerebu'u might speak the same language with minor differences, while people from Soa speak a slightly different language, and people from Riung speak a totally different language. Unable to communicate each other in their indigenous languages, they use Indonesian.

02Culture

The "Ngada traditional house and megalithic complex" was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on October 19, 1995, in the Cultural category, but was pulled out from the list in 2015.

History

01History

The Ngada Regency is one of the older regencies (kabupaten) in East Nusa Tenggara, having been formed in 1958. The regency was split into two on 2 January 2007, with the eastern part being formed into a new Nagekeo Regency. With the separate of Nagekeo, the residual Ngada now only has two main ethnic groups, the Bajawa in the south and the Riung in the north.

Geography

01Geology, geothermy

Mataloko (administrative center of Golewa district) has a geothermal area of 996.2 ha and is one of the most active geothermal fields in the Bajawa area, which stands along the southeast margin of the Bajawa Depression. Its heat source is deemed to be residual magma under the young volcanic cone and it generates more than 20 hot springs with temperatures up to 95 °C and flows up to 500 l/s. The northern springs are likely to be associated with Inielika volcano while the large group of features SW of Bajawa town are associated with Ineri cone and the many small recent eruptive centres to the east. The hot spring water is of acid sulfate (SO4) type — except for that at Nage where the waters are acid sulphate – chloride type. It results from shallower ground water being heated by gases containing hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and the ground water recharged from the surrounding area. Recharged meteoric water flows down underground, changes to geothermal brine, flows back up toward the southeast and results in a geothermal reservoir. As of 2022, Mataloko geothermal field has a total of 6 wells: 2 exploration wells (MT-1 and MT-2), which were drilled by the Japan-Indonesia Cooperation Research Program; 2 delineation wells (MT-3 and MT-4); 1 development well (MT-5); and 1 injection well (MT-6). Mataloko geothermal power plant has been in operation since 1998.

The locals do not accept that geothermal project for several reasons. Damages to 1,579 houses in 11 villages are mentioned in 2022. The roofs, most of them made of iron sheets, are corroded by the sulphur gas. The sulphur also affects agricultural crops such as cloves, coffee and cacao. And there are complaints about the strong sulphur smell from the power plant.