T

he organizer of the seventh Tour de Singkarak has said that the annual cycling event will proceed as planned this week despite concern regarding the fluctuating intensity of haze in West Sumatra over the past few weeks.

Held since 2009, this year'€™s Tour will run from Oct. 3 to 11 and cover 1,341.5 kilometers in 18 of 19 regions in West Sumatra.

Among the regions are Limapuluh Kota, Sijunjung, Dharmasraya and South Solok, which are located near the neighboring Riau and Jambi provinces and among the areas hardest-hit by smoke produced by land and forest fires.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, West Sumatra Tourism and Culture Agency head Burhasman Bur said the nine-stage Tour would still proceed according to its initial schedule. However, each race stage could be subject of last'€“minute changes.

'€œThere will be a meeting for local [organizers] that will also involve medical team members to asses [the technicalities] of every stage,'€ Burhasman said.

'€œThe meeting, for example, will assess whether the haze poses a danger or not [to cyclists]. If it doesn'€™t, then the race will go on.'€

Burhasman, however, pointed out that there was also a possibility of eliminating an entire stage or using only parts of the track in a certain stage for safety reasons.

'€œThe [haze] disaster is unpredictable, so we will follow the guidance from the International Cycling Union [UCI, the world cycling body]. Even the Tour de France was once disrupted because of a snow storm,'€ he said, referring to the world'€™s most prestigious cycling competition.

This year, 24 teams will compete in the Tour de Singkarak, which offers a total of Rp 2.5 billion (US$169,800) in prize money.

Among the confirmed teams are Bridgestone Anchor Cycling Team (Japan), Tabriz Petrochemical Team (Iran), National Sport Council of Malaysia, Team Differdange-Losch (Luxemburg), St. George Merida Cycling Team (Australia), Arbo Denzel Cliff (Austria) and Team 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines (Philippines).

Indonesia, meanwhile, will deploy six teams, including Team Nasional Indonesia BSP, Customs Cycling Club and SAKB Cycling Team.

Over the past several weeks, pollution originating from fires in peat land and plantations has hit several regions in Sumatra and Kalimantan, particularly West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.

The ongoing haze crisis has also been exacerbated by this year'€™s prolonged dry season triggered by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

The Dharmasraya Environmental Management Board reported on Wednesday that the air quality in the region was at the '€œdangerous'€ level, as its level of particulate matter (PM10) was measured at 555.56 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³).

Meanwhile in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, Kualanamu International Airport duty manager Indra Lubis said that a dozen flights from the airport had been canceled or delayed on Wednesday because of thick haze that had reduced visibility in the area.

In Pekanbaru, Riau, poor visibility also disrupted 70 flights scheduled to depart from or land at the city'€™s Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport on Wednesday.

'€œAs of this [Wednesday] afternoon, visibility stands at 400 meters. Referring to a similar situation on Tuesday, all flights are likely to be canceled,'€ the airport'€™s duty manager, Ibnu Hasan, told Antara news agency.
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