‘Better access roads, drainage can help prevent peat fires’
MIRI: All aspects of land development, including more accessible roads and better drainage, are among suggestions to be tabled in the next State Disaster Management Committee meeting.
Deputy State Secretary Datuk Ik Pahon Joyik, who is also the deputy chairman of the committee, said this list of suggestions represents one of the efforts to prevent the peat soil and forest fires in Kuala Baram from recurring.
“When I was the district officer here from 2000 to 2005, we had started the initiatives (to stop peat fires), but it continues to happen for about 18 years now.
“We need to look for long-term solutions,” he told reporters after conducting a brief visit to the Tudan Watch Tower here yesterday.
Ik Pahon pointed out that some of the proposals to be brought to the attention of Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas – also the chairman of State Disaster Management Committee – would include building larger drains and more access roads.
He observed that the the current drains used as firebreaks in the area (Kuala Baram) were small – not practical and effective enough in stopping fires from spreading.
“Apart from that, the absence of access roads makes it very difficult for the firefighters to put out the flames. Because this is a swampy (peat) area, it’s very hard to walk on; therefore we propose for better access roads in the near future,” he added.
On his opinion regarding peat soil expert Dr Lulie Melling’s suggestion to do mechanical compaction to prevent peat soil fires from recurring in the future, Ik Pahon regarded this as ‘not an easy task for a 4,000-hectare land’.
“But if you have access roads, this is where you make bunds and create bigger passageways for water – and you compact around that area,” he said, adding that other proposals for the undeveloped land parcels to be planted with short-term crops would be discussed in the next meeting.
Ik Pahon said he was happy that some of the landowners were present during his visit to the watch tower yesterday, in that he would be able to listen to their concerns.
“I think Datuk Amar (Uggah), being the chairman of the State Disaster Management Committee, has some proposals that he may announce in the near future, regarding the collaboration between his ministry (Agriculture Native Land and Regional Development) and the land owners, in term of land development in the area,” he said.