Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) has sent notices to three more Indonesian companies over forest and land fires in Kalimantan that are linked to smoke drifting across to the city-state, according to detikNews. The additions bring the total number of firms targeted under Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) to ten.
The three companies named are PT Buana Megatama Jaya, PT Mananjung Hayak and PT Baratama Putra Perkasa, detikNews reported on Tuesday, citing Channel News Asia. The NEA said there were indications that smoke from fires on land held under the firms' concessions may have reached Singapore.
The step came three days after the agency issued similar notices to seven other Indonesian companies over fires in Sumatra. Under the notices, the three Kalimantan firms are required to deploy firefighting personnel to put out the flames or stop them from spreading on land they own or control.
They have also been told to halt any burning currently under way, refrain from starting new fires, and submit an action plan to the NEA setting out how they will extinguish the fires and prevent them from recurring.
Why it matters
The notices mark an expansion of Singapore's enforcement effort beyond Sumatra, where the first batch of warnings was directed, to Kalimantan on the Indonesian side of Borneo. The case tests how far the city-state is willing to go in applying a law designed to hold companies accountable for smoke that crosses its borders.
"The NEA remains committed to taking enforcement action against companies found responsible for causing transboundary haze in Singapore," the agency said, according to detikNews.
The dispute has also spilled into regional politics. The source reporting notes that a former Indonesian trade minister criticised Singapore over the haze issue, while a Singaporean minister highlighted pulp and paper producer APP in the investigation. Those developments were reported by CNN Indonesia and CNBC Indonesia respectively.
Minister says no replies yet from first seven firms
Singapore's Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu, said the three additional companies are located in Kalimantan. She also said the Singapore government had not yet received any response from the seven companies that were warned earlier, according to detikNews.
"We are committed to investigating all companies found responsible for causing transboundary haze in Singapore, and will not hesitate to take further action under the THPA, with reference to the information and evidence available," Fu said.
She said Singapore would hand the evidence it has gathered to other agencies for their own separate investigations.
Senior Minister K Shanmugam said Singapore would use every legal, regulatory and economic instrument at its disposal against companies responsible for the haze. He said the country would keep pursuing them "for as long as it takes," and added that Singapore was prepared to strengthen its laws against such firms, detikNews reported.
The ten companies on the list
According to detikNews, citing CNA, the ten companies that have received notices are:
- PT Bumi Andalas Permai
- PT Bumi Mekar Hijau
- PT Paramitra Mulia Langgeng
- PT Sumatera Alam Anugerah
- PT SBA Wood Industries
- PT Hutan Lestari Raya
- PT Bangkanesia
- PT Buana Megatama Jaya
- PT Mananjung Hayak
- PT Baratama Putra Perkasa
The first seven on the list were covered by the earlier round of notices concerning fires in Sumatra. The final three are the Kalimantan firms named this week.
The THPA gives Singapore a legal route to act against entities operating outside its territory when fires on land they hold are linked to haze affecting the country. The notices are a preliminary enforcement step; they require companies to act and to account for their plans, and they can precede further measures if the agency decides the response is inadequate.
What happens next depends largely on whether the ten companies respond to the NEA and how quickly the fires on the identified concessions are brought under control.
