S'pore confronts four Indonesian firms and APP over haze

Singapore

THE Singapore government has served notices to four Indonesian companies as well as Asia Pulp & Paper Company (APP) in Singapore for possible transgressions of the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act.

From its investigations so far, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said, there are indications that the haze may have been contributed by fires in lands held via concessions under the four Indonesian companies. They are PT Rimba Hutani Mas, PT Sebangun Bumi Andalas Wood Industries, PT Bumi Sriwijaya Sentosa and PT Wachyuni Mandira.

NEA has sent Preventive Measure Notices to them, requesting that they extinguish the fires, discontinue burning activities and inform NEA of their plans to prevent a recurrence of these fires.

NEA is also seeking information from APP on its subsidiaries in Singapore and Indonesia, as well as the measures taken by its suppliers in Indonesia to put out fires in their concessions.

APP is the largest paper and pulp company in Indonesia; it manages concessions covering 2.6 million ha - almost 35 times the size of Singapore.

APP had earlier told The Business Times that these fires are a complex issue involving the rights of local communities, illegal activity by small enterprises (often with political links) and issues of land-use rights, maps, ownership and protection.

NEA has been monitoring hotspots and smoke plumes from fires in the region, drawing on information from maps, meteorological data and satellite imagery.

It said on Friday that it has further written to its Indonesian counterpart on Thursday with coordinates of hotspots detected over Sumatra, asking it to help analyse the coordinates and share the names of the companies that hold the concessions for these areas, including the names of their office bearers.

At a briefing, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan told reporters that Indonesia has taken some positive measures.

For instance, Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry has apparently revoked the licence of one company and suspended operations of three firms that operate palm oil plantations in Sumatra. Seven corporate executives were said to have been arrested over illegal forest fires, one of whom was apparently from Bumi Mekar Hijau, a unit of APP.

But clearly, much more needs to be done, Dr Balakrishnan said.

The Singapore government is now looking into how to apply more economic pressure against errant companies; it will review its procurement procedures to see how it can weed out errant companies.

To promote green procurement, the government will look into how it can support companies which are recognised by their industry or by international bodies as having put in place sustainable practices.

NEA said: "As far as possible, this would take into account the practices of their suppliers further down the supply chain, to ensure that they meet social and environmental standards.

"This will lead to the expectation for companies to be transparent about their supply chains, particularly those involved in the palm oil and forestry sectors."

As Dr Balakrishnan said: "Ultimately, errant companies must know that there is a price to be paid for damaging our health, environment and economy."

NEA said the 24-hour PSI for Saturday is expected to remain in the Very Unhealthy range of 200 to 300, and may gradually fall to the high end of the Unhealthy range (101 to 200).