TEMPO.CO, Riau - The provincial government of Riau focuses on the development of bulkhead canals to prevent land and forest fire in Bengkalis District and Meranti Island. Both Districts having vast turfs are located on the border with Malaysian.
“Besides located close to Malaysia, both region are prone to land fire and contribute hotspots that are quite high,” Riau Environmental Agency Chief Yulwirawati Moesa said Monday, May 25.
The government of Riau, Yulwirawati said, have extend their smoke disaster emergency alert status until October 2015, associated with the beginning of summer in the province.
The bulkhead development will be assisted by the National Board of Disaster Management (BNPB), which is according to President Joko Widodo’s program to build one thousand buldhead canals to maintain water level in the turf areas inorder to remain wet.
The development will begin mid June 2015. Yulwirawati said the canal will be built in the surroundings of the turfs build by society. The government mandates that industrial forest companies and palm plantations to construct their own canals.
Riau Environmental Agency recorded 7,271 hotspots between last January and May 2014. The number of hotspots were reduced in the same period in 2015 of only 1,893 hotspots.
However, the bulkhead canal program creates a new problem. Akasia and palm companies would experience an impair due to the excess water. In order to resolve the issue, Yulwirawati said she wil further discuss it with turf experts. “We will find a solution,” she said.
RIYAN NOFITRA