TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In order to preserve nature, a government agency representative said that the design of Indonesia’s new capital city in East Kalimantan is intended to use a very limited amount of peatlands.

This was revealed by the peatland restoration agency Nazir Fuad in Tempo’s talk show, Ngobrol Bareng Tempo, at the Cafe Beka Resto in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

“We will truly minimize the use of peatlands the best we can. This is to prevent damaging the area’s nature,” said Nazir Fuad.

However, Nazir said the main challenge now lies in the fact that the new capital city will be surrounded by peatlands that effectively means it will be directly exposed and vulnerable to potential land fire haze as drought comes.

“[The natural lands] in West, South, East, and Central Kalimantan must be preserved as the smoke and haze will be able to reach the new capital city as the drought season comes,” said Nazir Fuad.

The peatland restoration agency conducted numerous studies since last year but has yet to reach a conclusion. He maintains that the issue not only lies on the peatland itself but also the development that will be done over it.

“Constructions over peatlands and non-peatland must have its own scenarios,” said Nazir.

Meanwhile, IPB University’s professor of forestry Bambang Hero Suharjo said the fear of peatland fire can be a hazard for the new capital city. He said that he will present this issue in his upcoming visit to Bappenas in February.

MOH KHORY ALFARIZI