September 3, 2026 | 02:45 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As forest and land fires spread around Nusantara Capital City (IKN) area in East Kalimantan, IKN Authority head Basuki Hadimuljono detailed the mitigatory measures prepared by the government.
According to Basuki, wildfires broke out in the region due to land and waste burning, as well as careless disposal of cigarette butts. Authorities are also probing the blaze within a corporate area.
"We will swiftly impose administrative sanctions," Basuki said in a written response to Tempo on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, without naming the corporation in question.
Amid the wildfire threat, Basuki assured that fire panic buttons and firefighting stations, personnel, and facilities are readily available in the Core Government Central Area. He further urged village/sub-district governments and business permit holders in the IKN area to increase vigilance.
"For prevention, the IKN Authority has been monitoring hotspots intensively for about a month," said the former Minister of Public Works and Public Housing.
Despite the lack of haze in the IKN area, Basuki also assured that the authority has taken health precautions. Preventive and emergency measures related to the impact of forest fires were agreed upon with hospital management in the capital city. Basuki also urged school administrators to encourage students to wear medical masks.
Citing an Antara report on September 2, 2026, a joint team from various agencies in North Penajam Paser, where IKN is located, put out 89.15 hectares of forest fires out of 84 incidents from January to August 31, 2026.
These included 49 fire incidents in Penajam District, burning 43.92 hectares; five incidents in Waru District, covering 20.75 hectares; 22 incidents in Babulu District, covering 22.24 hectares; and eight incidents in Sepaku District, burning 2.26 hectares.
Nurlaila, Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency of North Penjaam Paser Regency, said the dry season proves to be a challenge to obtain water supply sources to combat wildfires. However, she said, this could still be manageable through inter-agency cooperation.
Read: Celios: Indonesia's Wildfire Losses Could Reach Rp123.1 Trillion
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