No fires by Lonsum

No fires by Lonsum

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia
(Lonsum), a palm oil and rubber plantation company, has denied an
allegation it used a burning method to clear land in its East
Kalimantan oil palm plantation.

The company said yesterday that a consolidated investigation
team from the province's local government found no forest fires
in any of Lonsum's estates.

"The team inspected the estates on Feb. 15 and verified that
Lonsum exercises a zero burning policy in clearing its land and
that no evidence of burning was found," the company said in a
statement.

The team also ascertained that Lonsum is sufficiently equipped
in anticipating any forest fires in its estates. The company has
put into position 58 heavy machinery equipment to construct fire
breaks, four 5,000-liter water tanks, hand sprayers and fire
fighting teams.

Lonsum was established in 1906 in North Sumatra. It currently
produces a yearly average of five tons of crude palm oil per
hectare, which, it claims, is at least 10 percent more than
yields achieved by any other South Asian plantation. (gis)