Efforts to prevent haze in the country have been stepped up by preventing open burning in highly flammable areas such as peat forests and peat soil which are difficult to extinguish, said Natural
Resources and Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas.

He said as early prevention and preparation for the coming hot and dry weather, the ministry had implemented its Peat Soil Fire Prevention Programme.

“This programme is carried out in several high-risk peat soil areas in six states, namely Pahang, Johor, Selangor, Kelantan, Sarawak and Sabah.

“There are currently 93 check dams and 19 tube wells to be used to control water levels in peat soil areas, as well as three watchtowers to continuously monitor open burning activities,” he told reporters after opening the ministry’s sports championship at the Universiti Putra Malaysia Stadium in Serdang today.

He said the government would not tolerate open burning by any quarters, whereby 12 plantation companies in Sarawak were brought to court last year.

Uggah said the air quality nationwide had improved, whereby none of the 50 monitoring stations registered poor air quality.

He also expressed confidence that the Asean Ministerial Steering Committee Meeting next month would reach a consensus on the formation of the Asean Speedy Fire Fitting Team to act on any serious burning within the region.

- Bernama