Tourism forest to be rejuvenated in Riau

PEKANBARU, Riau: The Dumai administration of Riau said on Thursday it would start rehabilitating their forest preserve as a recreation center to help defuse the tourism crisis.

Dumai Mayor Wan Syamsir Yus said that his administration had allocated Rp 2 billion (US$222,000) of this year's budget to rejuvenate the forest preserve.

"The fund will be used to rehabilitate 250 out of 5,000 hectares of forest areas initially," he said.

The forest, classified as a conservation area in 1990 by the central government, is in critical condition due to fires, illegal logging, land clearing and resettlement.

Continued illegal activities would eventually threaten Dumai's water supply, as well as the forest's Sumatran tiger population. --Antara