Cloud seeding good way to douse haze, Kalla says

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 10/14/2006 8:10 AM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As haze continues to choke large swathes of Southeast Asia, Vice President Jusuf Kalla says the government will resume efforts to create artificial rain to extinguish forest fires in the country's west.

Speaking on Friday, Kalla said seeding would begin when weather forecasts showed clouds beginning to form over Sumatra and Kalimantan, where fires are creating billowing pillars of smoke.

Rain would solve the problem but the downfalls predicted for October had not eventuated

""We have put in big efforts (before), providing helicopters (for dousing) and making artificial rain, but we haven't had any clouds these past few days,"" Kalla said.

Government moves to try cloud seeding in previous haze disasters have been criticized as ineffective.

To put out future fires, Kalla said the National Disaster Management Coordinating Board (Bakornas) would be restructured. Better coordination with local administrations would also help the government respond more quickly to events, he said.

""Bakornas will have independent funding and will operate in the field and supply more fire-fighting resources in areas across the country,"" he said.

Kalla made the comments as ASEAN ministers gathered in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Friday to discuss the haze problem, which has affected Indonesia and four neighbors.

Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said Thursday the government has allocated Rp 100 billion (US$10.9 million) from the state budget to extinguish the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

The money would be used to rent helicopters and aircraft to douse fires with water or to rent Hercules planes to help create artificial rain, he said.

""On Sunday, two helicopters that we rent from Malaysia will begin operating, carrying 'water bombs' with a capacity of 9,000 liters and we're still working to get another helicopter from Australia,"" he told Antara.

In the city of Palembang, South Sumatra, choking smog meant the municipality distributed 2,000 face masks to pilots and passengers of small boats plying the Musi River.

Meanwhile, in the Central Kalimantan town of Sampit, haze thickened to the worst levels this year, with visibility down to only five meters.

The thick haze also grounded flights from Banjarmasin to Sampit for four hours, Antara reported.

Meanwhile, Central Kalimantan Police said they would examine report from a state plantation office, which singled out 17 companies for the fires.

Central Java Police chief Sr. Comr. Dinar said he would assign officials to cross-check the report.

He said police were investigating eight large plantation companies for carrying out burn-offs in the province. They have named four people suspects, he said.

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