More water bombers set to fight fires

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry and Plantations Sumahadi said yesterday the government would deploy 10 more water bomber airplanes to tackle the raging forest fires in East Kalimantan.

The minister said that state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT IPTN would organize the deployment of 10 Canadian made CL-205 aircraft, to support ground efforts to tackle the fires.

"I reported that we have taken all necessary measures, which have so far not been successful, to overcome the disaster," Sumahadi said after meeting with Vice President B.J. Habibie at Merdeka Selatan Palace yesterday.

More than 127,000 hectares of forest in the province, 40 percent of which is owned by timber companies, has been burned in the last three months, causing material losses of over Rp 2.2 trillion (US$220 million).

Two water bomber airplanes and 300 unemployed workers have already been deployed to tackle the fires.

"The CL-205 planes can directly refill their tanks from the sea after spraying the fires," Sumahadi said.

He witnessed a demonstration flight by the planes in Ankara, Turkey last year.

The minister declined to disclose who was funding the purchase of the extra planes. "I will discuss it later (with IPTN) because our financial resources are limited". (prb)