Chevron Denies BPBD About Burning Company Protected Forest In Riau

DOK. BETWEEN / Deputy Chairman of KPK Alexander Marwata

JAKARTA - The management of PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI) has denied that the burning forest near its work area in Rumbai Pesisir District, Pekanbaru City, Riau, is a protected forest owned by the company.

"The land managed by PT CPI around Rumbai Camp has the status of Other Use Areas (APL) and is not a protected forest. PT CPI is a Cooperation Contract Contractor (KKKS) of the Indonesian Government in the Rokan Block that manages State Property to support national upstream oil and gas activities. PT CPI works under the supervision and control of SKK Migas, "said Manager of Corporate Communications of PT CPI, Sonitha Poernomo, in a written statement quoted by Antara, Wednesday, March 3.

Sonitha stated that his party received reports of a fire in the land behind Rumbai Camp, precisely on Jl. Kemping, Lembah Sari Village, Rumbai Pesisir District, Pekanbaru City, at around 14:17 WIB.

After receiving the report, the PT CPI fire and operations team immediately moved to the location and collaborated with the authorities to extinguish the fire and coordinate the necessary steps.

"PT CPI deployed three fire fighting vehicles along with personnel and heavy equipment to open access to the fire site. Extinguishing efforts were also assisted by one damkar from the BPBD (Regional Disaster Management Agency)," he said.

Sonitha said that until now PT CPI continues to extinguish fires on an area of around four hectares, and monitors conditions in the field to prevent the fire from spreading. According to him, the cause of the fire was not yet known.

Based on journalists' observation at the fire location which Chevron called the APL area, dozens of personnel from the company's fire fighting team were also assisted by the Manggala Agni fire department, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK).

Apart from that, there were also officers from the Pekanbaru Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), all of whom could not extinguish the scattered fires. The area of the fire area is hilly mineral soil containing thickets and dry tree stands.

"We got a report from the National Anti-Security Agency that there was a fire in the Chevron protected forest, and we saw that the fire was already high. Our difficulty is that there is no water source, absolutely zero. We've been looking for it but the water is not enough," said Team Commander of BPBD Pekanbaru, Fati Zebua. .

According to Zebua, the fires in the Chevron area have occurred twice this week, the first time on Monday night (1/3). He estimated that there were more than five fire hotspots that were located at different locations in the area, and the total area of the fires was estimated at 10 hectares.