Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) embarked on a working visit to West Kalimantan Province on Thursday in accordance with the planned distribution of land certificates to the local residents, among other things.

Erlin Suastini, head of the Presidential Secretariat's Press, Media, and Information Bureau, revealed that Jokowi and his entourage flew aboard presidential aircraft Indonesia-1 from the Halim Perdanaksuma Airbase in Jakarta.

West Kalimantan Governor Sutarmidji, Commander of the Regional Military Command XII/Tanjungpura Major General Muhammad Nur Rahmad, and Chief of the West Kalimantan Police Inspector General Didi Haryono extended a warm welcome to the president after he landed at the Supadio International Airport in Kubu Raya District.

From the airport, the president and his entourage headed to Pontianak to hand over a decree on redistribution of Forest's Agrarian Reform Object Land (TORA) and land certificates.

In the afternoon, Jokowi will pay visits to several projects along Kapuas River in Pontianak, where he will spend the night.

The presidential entourage members comprise Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN) Sofyan Djalil, Chief of the Presidential Staff Moeldoko, and Head of the Presidential Secretariat Heru Budi Hartono.

In the meantime, the LAPAN satellite image data revealed the presence of 949 hotspots suggestive of forest fires in West Kalimantan on Sept 3-4, 2019, a significant rise, from 15 hotspots on Sept 2-3, according to the Supadio-Pontianak meteorology station.

Of the total, 433 hotspots were observed in Ketapang District, 123 in Sintang, 102 in Sanggau, 87 in Sekadau, 61 in North Kayong, 49 in Landak, 41 in Melawi, 29 in Kubu Raya, 14 in Bengkayang, six in Kapuas Hulu and Sambas, Erika Mardiyanti, head of the meteorology station, confirmed here on Wednesday.

West Kalimantan Deputy Governor Ria Norsan remarked that the provincial administration had issued Regulation No. 39 of 2019 on Prevention and Mitigation of Forest Fires to curtail slash and burn practices.

Insp. Gen. Didi Haryono earlier stated that the West Kalimantan Police had arrested 52 suspects in land and forest fire cases in the province.

"A total of 52 suspects were arrested in 44 cases constituting 43 individual cases and one involving a corporation," Haryono had stated on Aug 27, 2019.
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Translator: Joko Susilo, Fardah
Editor: Suharto
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