By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Oct 28: The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) will strengthen coordination with the Sarawak Government and relevant ministries to prepare contingency plans for haze risks ahead of the 2027 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games.
According to a TVS report, Minister of NRES Datuk Seri Arthur Joseph Kurup said the preparations encompass air quality monitoring, early warning systems, dry weather and open burning risk assessments, readiness of relevant agency assets, and the formulation of action plans based on current risk levels.
In his ministry’s winding up speech at the Dewan Rakyat today, he stated that the government has developed the National Haze Action Plan (PTJK) since 1999 as the primary mechanism for coordinating actions among relevant ministries, departments, and agencies in managing haze issues.
At the same time, he noted that the government will look into improvements to the PTJK to ensure the haze management mechanism remains relevant, including in terms of warning levels, duration of continuous pollution, and inter-agency coordination.
He added, cloud seeding operations could also be considered as a mitigation measure, depending on the suitability of cloud and weather conditions.
“Under the plan, the Department of Environment (DOE) is responsible for monitoring air quality and providing Air Pollutant Index (API) information, while relevant agencies implement protective measures according to their respective jurisdictions.
“When the API reading continuously exceeds 150 for more than 24 hours, the Disaster Management Committee will be activated by the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) at the relevant levels, in line with PTJK guidelines,” he said. – DayakDaily
