Yet another use for steel building designs is outlined below:

A massive dam 15 stories high would be built around Indonesia's disastrous "mud volcano" under the latest proposal to stop toxic sludge spewing from its core, a report said yesterday.

Indonesian and Japanese engineers have pitched the ambitious metal building plan to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the nation marks the one-year anniversary since the mudspill started, forcing thousands to flee their homes.

The proposal, estimated to cost $70 million is the latest attempt to try to stem the steaming mud that started pouring from the earth after an exploratory gas drilling team pierced a layer of strata.

The flow has engulfed homes, factories and farms over more than 600 acres near Indonesia's second city of Surabaya on the main Java island.

Under the plan, the mud rising up in the dam would eventually be so heavy that it could act as a counterweight to the sludge trying to emerge from the crater, blocking off the flow, said Tempo magazine, which has a copy of the proposal.

Government officials have said they are studying the unique general steel building plan, which was presented to Yudhoyono about a month ago, although they have not released details.

"If this technique is successful, the area will be ready to be rebuilt into a new city. This is the future for the area, according to the civil engineers," the magazine said.

The wall encircling the volcano would be 10 meters thick and 120 meters in diameter. It would consist of two separate fences of thick steel pipes encased in concrete up to 48 meters high. The dam would also have a machine to extract water from the mud, with the liquid moving down a massive chute for piping to a nearby river.

Expected to take eight months to build, the dam would also feature a geology museum and a park, estimated to cost $5.6 million on top of the metal building price discussed above