It will take three years to complete construction of canals and temporary water reserves in forests before long-term results to the haze crisis can be seen, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said. “It requires a lot of physical ground work on the land tracts which will take time”.
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“We have been working hard in dealing with the haze problem”.
The fires created clouds of dense smog that has blanketed a few regions of Indonesia and its neighbors in Singapore and Malaysia.
The unhealthy air has also increased the workload for doctors in Malaysia and Singapore, where the haze has clouded the build-up to the Formula One night race to be held there later this week. Although the south-east Asian haze has been an issue for decades during the dry season, it has reached alarming levels in the past few months. Earlier this year it was so bad in Riau province a state of emergency was declared.
Fires in forests and agricultural areas have raged in several provinces in Indonesia, namely in Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has called on the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to quicken the process of extinguishing forest and land fires. However, ineffective regulation coupled with grave corruption in Indonesia has led people with easy access to burning which is cheaper and faster compared to using excavators.
Mr Widodo dismissed criticism he had failed to deliver on election promises and told BBC that Indonesia has gone to “great lengths” to address the problem, deploying 3,700 military officers, 7,900 police officers, 18 helicopers and four planes to put out the fires. “My people are the victims too”, he said in an interview with broadcaster BBC published on its website yesterday.
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Singapore’s environment minister said late on Monday that Indonesia had agreed to share names of companies causing the fires once the information had been verified.
