AFP/VNExpress-Oct 17
Singapore has said it would issue warnings to seven companies in Indonesia it identified as responsible for fires that have sent toxic smoke across Southeast Asia. The city-state has beefed up measures to combat the months-long fires and had vowed legal action against companies responsible for the blazes that have made regional air quality among the world’s worst. “Our investigation so far suggests that some of the haze experienced in Singapore originated from fires on the lands of seven companies in Indonesia,” Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu said. Singapore will send the “preventative notices” to the companies, which are based on Indonesia’s Sumatra island to the west. The notices tell the companies to deploy fire fighting teams, stop burning or starting new fires and submit their action plans to Singapore’s National Environmental Agency. Asked what steps Singapore could take to ensure the companies complied, Fu said measures like “fines or charges” were “all within our realm of consideration.” The companies named by the Singaporean government are mainly pulpwood and timber suppliers in Sumatra and include Bumi Andalas Permai, Bumi Mekar Hijau and SBA Wood Industries. Authorities said on Friday that four people have died fighting the blazes on Indonesia’s Java island.
Two others suffered serious burns and were receiving further medical treatment, according to Indonesia’s fire ministry.
The blazes in Indonesia have closed schools and fueled a surge of respiratory complaints and growing frustration about the inability to contain the situation. “We should be prepared for the haze to persist for some time,” Singapore’s Fu said, adding that “the situation is fluid”. Singapore topped IQAir’s live ranking of the world’s most polluted major cities on Friday afternoon, with Kuala Lumpur second and Jakarta tenth.
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