Forest fire losses close to Rp 200b

Forest fire losses close to Rp 200b

JAKARTA (JP): At least 63,000 hectares of forest and brush
along East Kalimantan's Mahakam River have been ravaged by fires
over the last two months, causing close to Rp 200 billion (US$21
million) in losses.

Speaking from the forestry ministry's fire-fighting command
post here yesterday, Director General of Forest Protection and
Nature Conservation Soemarsono said the losses excluded
biodiversity damage.

"It's still a rough figure... it (the figure) is derived from
multiplying each hectare of forest burned with the rehabilitation
cost of Rp 5 million per hectare," he said.

Last year, as many as 30,000 hectares of forest and brush in
East Kalimantan were destroyed in fires which raged from April to
December, with total losses put at Rp 100 billion.

Soemarsono said more than 60 percent of all areas of forest
ravaged this year were owned by timber estates and forest
concession companies.

There have been no complaints about haze from neighboring
countries such as Brunei Darussalam, which is located closest to
burning areas in East Kalimantan, he said.

As of last year, the resulting haze from forest fires in
Kalimantan and Sumatra spread to neighboring Malaysia and
Singapore, causing at least $300 million and $60 million in
losses respectively.

Haze from last year's fires, which destroyed at least 300,000
hectares of forest and brush, caused more than Rp 1 billion in
damages.

Soemarsono said yesterday that ditches stretching 120
kilometers in length were dug to contain the fires, and small
aircraft were being deployed to waterbomb the fires.

So far, as many as 12 sorties of waterbombing have been
concluded, Soemarsono said without elaborating on how many fires
had been extinguished since the steps were taken.

Director General of Inventory and Forest Land Use, Sumahadi,
who accompanied Soemarsono yesterday, said the government had
allocated Rp 18 billion in the 1998/1999 state budget -- to take
effect on April 1 -- to fight fires.

As many as 167 tons of rice have been pledged by the
Indonesian Forestry Society (MPI) to help alleviate the suffering
of local people affected by the fires and haze, Sumahadi said.
(gis/aan)