Jakarta (ANTARA) – Forest and land fires in East Kalimantan have not affected the development of Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara (IKN), as the affected areas are located far from the construction zone, Nusantara Capital City Authority (OIKN) Head Basuki Hadimuljono said.
“The fires are in the Bukit Soeharto area, so they are quite a distance away,” Hadimuljono said at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He explained that fires at several locations in East Kalimantan had been contained through various ground-based firefighting operations.
According to Hadimuljono, weather modification operations were not necessary because ground-based efforts had proved sufficient to control the fires.
“Ground-based efforts are sufficient. I personally participated in the ground firefighting operations twice. The affected area is not too vast, totaling 1,600 hectares, but it is spread across multiple locations,” he said.
Of the approximately 1,600 hectares affected, around 900 hectares were in the Bukit Soeharto Grand Forest Park (Tahura) area, while another 600 hectares were within oil palm plantation concessions, he added.
Hadimuljono confirmed that all identified various fire hotspots had been extinguished.
Regarding air quality in the IKN area, he said the Air Quality Index (AQI) had peaked at between 100 and 130 earlier in the day before falling below 100.
However, he did not specify the monitoring locations or the particular air quality index used.
Hadimuljono also addressed reports of alleged land clearing through burning by corporations in other parts of Indonesia, emphasizing that no such cases had been identified in East Kalimantan.
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Translator: Arie Novarina
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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