Article: Haze making travel along Pan-Borneo Highway risky

Saturday August 8, 2009

MIRI: Travelling along the Pan-Borneo High-way has become dangerous as visibility has been reduced to less than 100m on some stretches as a result of haze made worse by forest fires raging through the state.

A check by The Star yesterday found thick haze covering some stretches of the highway along a 50km route between Sarawak and Brunei.

Traffic police have alerted motorists to be careful by posting notices near the Sarawak-Brunei Immigration and Customs checkpoints.

A Miri Lopeng Fire Station officer said visibility near the Niah district, some 120km south of here, was also bad.

Visibility was worse at night and early morning, he said, adding that most of the fires were far from the highway and there was limited access to the hotspots.

As of yesterday, over 900 major forest fires were scattered throughout Sarawak, many of which were burning out of control.

In Kuching, State Natural Resources Environ-ment Board deputy controller Peter Sawal said three open burning permits for plantation companies had been revoked with 26 applications for permits suspended.

The department has warned that on-the-spot compound would be issued, and that plantation owners here, in Sibu, Bintulu and Miri had been informed of the open burning ban.

State Assistant Minister for Infrastructure Development and Communications Bolhassan Di hoped the Public Works Department would send drinking water to over 20,000 villagers in three drought-hit settlements in Beting Maro in southern Sarawak.

In Petaling Jaya, the Department of Environ-ment said the air quality in four areas were found to be unhealthy as at 5pm yesterday, with Sibu and Samarahan having Air Pollutant Index readings of 104 and 122, while Miri reached 115.

Malacca moved into the unhealthy category in the evening with an API of 104.

This article was taken from: The Star Online: Nation 8 August 2009