TPL may be innocent, says minister

TPL may be innocent, says minister

JAKARTA: State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim said on Wednesday that it would be difficult to prove if pulp producing company, Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), was to blame for the acid rain in the Porsea district of North Sumatra.

"There is no evidence backing this claim, because rain has yet to fall there," Nabiel said after a meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz here.

He said locals had blamed the company's sulfurous gas emissions for acid rain in the district.

He noted that one way to prove this was to take samples of the rainwater.

However, he said, there had not been any rain in the area so far.

TPL has resumed operations after being closed for a few months following complaints from locals that it was polluting the environment.

The government has allowed the company to resume its production of pulp, but not rayon.

TPL has reportedly been able to overcome the waste disposal problem and will, in the next six to nine months, acquire equipment that will clear the area of the bad smell that the factory continues to produce.

Nabiel called on locals to refrain from the use of violence in dealing with the issue. --Antara