Govt to go all out in fight against forest fires

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry and Plantations Sumahadi vowed yesterday to do his best to tackle the prolonged forest fires in East Kalimantan despite his ministry's limited budget and equipment.

The minister acknowledged shortages of sophisticated equipment, including water bombers, had slowed efforts to tame the fires.

"Up to now we are trying to extinguish the fires by using simple equipment and by employing as many people as possible to put out the fires. Of course this is rather difficult," Sumahadi said after meeting with President Soeharto at his private residence on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta.

More than 127,000 hectares of forest, plantations and farmland -- 40 percent of which is owned by timber companies -- have been burned in the last three months. Losses from the fires exceed Rp 2.2 trillion (US$220 million).

The head of the East Kalimantan Environmental Impact Management Agency, Awang Faroek, said Sunday that about 300 people were employed daily to fight the fires on the ground. The government had also deployed two water bombers to spray water from the air.

Faroek said he expected the central government to accelerate efforts to combat the fires because at least 5,000 people in the province were suffering from smog-related diseases, including 3,400 people experiencing respiratory problems.

"We will also send fire fighters from other provinces to East Kalimantan next month to enable us work day and night," said Sumahadi.

Haze caused by the forest fires in East Kalimantan has yet to affect the flow of the foreign tourists, an official was quoted by Antara as saying in the provincial capital Samarinda yesterday.

The head of the provincial office of the ministry of tourism, arts and culture, Ibnu Darmawan, said there had not been any reports of trip cancellations from any of the 80-odd travel agencies in the province.

However, the director of a local travel agency PT Hopes Travel Balikpapan, Antoni Tambunan, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that his company had canceled at least five trips due to the forest fires.

"If there are 10 people on each package tour, this means some 50 foreign tourists have canceled their trips over the past three months," Antoni said.

He estimated hundreds of foreign tourists had canceled their trips to the province in the last few months.

Ibnu was quoted by Antara as saying that 42,817 foreign tourists visited the province last year. (byg/prb)