September 7, 2026 | 05:03 pm
Bukit Soeharto (Soeharto Hill). Photo: Wikipedia
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Prabowo Subianto warned that forest and land fires must not be allowed to spread into the core zone of the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan.The Head of State conveyed the directive during a hybrid limited meeting concerning disaster management developments. "We also need to pay close attention to fires near the IKN," Prabowo said at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Monday, September 7, 2026.He urged his staff to deploy key assets to prevent the flames from spreading further. "We must not let the fires reach the core zone," said the Gerindra Party Chairman.Therefore, he requested the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) to coordinate with the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) to arrange the positioning of heavy military transport helicopters."We will discuss the positioning of the Chinook helicopters with the TNI Commander [General Agus Subiyanto]," Prabowo told BNPB Head Lieutenant General Suharyanto.During the meeting, Suharyanto reported that a 458-hectare section within the Bukit Soeharto Grand Forest Park was ablaze. According to him, emergency teams are currently working to contain the fire at the site."In the IKN area, inside Bukit Soeharto, 458 hectares are burning; this is still being handled with assistance from the ground task force," Suharyanto said.Furthermore, Suharyanto revealed that as of September 7, 2026, the cumulative total of burned land across six provinces, namely West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Riau, South Sumatra, and Jambi, had reached 72,008 hectares.Meanwhile, total extinguished land across the affected areas reached 71,274.29 hectares.Read: Prabowo Reviews Response to Multiple Disasters in Virtual MeetingClick here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
