Forestry ministry has new helicopters

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry began operating on Tuesday its two new Bell-142 helicopters, which will be used mainly to combat forest fires.

The ministry received the aircraft on Monday from PT Daya Jasa Transindo Pratama, which won the tender to procure them from PT Dirgantara Indonesia, the state-owned company which assembled the American helicopters.

The ministry, which paid Rp 84.69 billion (US$8.9 million) for the two helicopters, already has eight BO-105 helicopters, but only one is operational.

Ministry secretary-general Suripto said one of the new helicopters would be based in East Kalimantan and the other in Riau. The aircraft also will be used for such purposes as patrolling the forests and transporting passengers and goods.

Indonesia has been widely criticized by Singapore and Malaysia for failing to deal with the numerous forest fires that have sent clouds of haze over their territories during the dry season.

Suripto said between 1997 and 1998 the total forest area damaged by fire was 7.5 million hectares.

A member of the ministry's technical staff, Safroedin Rahmat, said the design of the Bell-412 made it ideal to combat fires, and noted the aircraft also was used in Germany, France and Canada for this purpose. "We don't need to modify the choppers in order to install fire-fighting devices."

Under the procurement contract, Daya Jasa Transindo Pratama, in cooperation with Dirgantara Indonesia, will provide maintenance for the helicopters for the first four months of their operation. (03)