President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo walks through a burned down forest in Central Kalimantan. (Courtesy of Agus Suparto)

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Willem Rampangilei and Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo have said that their institutions plan to jointly develop canals to prevent forest fires in South Kalimantan.

They revealed their plan after attending a coordination meeting with local military chiefs, officials of the Environment and Forestry Ministry and representatives of the local governments.

During the visit to the province, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo had instructed BNPB and the local governments to construct the canals to prevent forest fires.

'€œTNI will deploy soldiers and excavators to support the canal blocking construction. Other parties like Public Works and Public Housing Ministry as well as private companies will support the canal blocking construction,'€ said BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho on Friday as quoted by tempo.co.

The construction of the canals will be implemented in two areas: Jabiren Raya and Sebangau Kuala in South Kalimantan. The funding for projects will come from BNPB's treasury fund.

By Thursday, there were around 1,508 hot spots observed all across South Kalimantan, mostly in the Pulang Pisau area with 616 hot spots and Kapuas with 366 hot spots.

In trying to stop the forest fires, the Environment and Forestry Ministry will supply the BNPB with more personnel and equipment to extinguish forests.

'€œThe BNPB head has already instructed us to add more personnel, to deploy more water bombing helicopters and aircraft to stop the forest fires,'€ said Sutopo as quoted on tempo.co. (nov/bbn)(++++)

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