Haze welcomes Hamzah's visit

Haze welcomes Hamzah's visit

BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan: Haze blanketing the South
Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin welcomed Vice President Hamzah
Haz and his entourage when they arrived at Syamsuddin Noor
airport on Wednesday.

The haze was thicker than in previous days despite recent
rainfall.

"Indeed, the haze is thicker than in previous days," Nanang, a
tower monitoring staff member at the Syamsuddin Noor Airport told
The Jakarta Post.

Despite its density, however, the haze did not interfere with
flight schedules to and from the airport, Nanang said.

Monitoring results showed that Wednesday's thick haze was a
result of dried rice stalks being burned in northern, eastern and
southern parts of Banjarmasin.

"The farmers burned the stalks to clean up the rice fields
after the harvest season," he said.

During his visit to the province, Hamzah inaugurated an 18-
kilometer road heading to Trisakti Seaport in Banjarmasin.

He met several religious figures and members of his United
Development Party (PPP), and visited the grave of local religious
figure Syekh Arsyad Al Banjary. (32/02)