Wilmar International Ltd. says it is working to comply with a Singapore haze inquiry notice, while First Resources Ltd. and Bumitama Agri Ltd. say they will provide records after the National Environment Agency (NEA) sought information from 10 Singapore-registered firms.
NEA issued the notices Oct. 23 under Section 10 of Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act. The request concerns firms in the palm oil or forestry sectors with Indonesian land concessions, either directly or through related companies.
Wilmar said in a filing that it received a Section 10(1) notice on Oct. 23 and that work to comply was in progress. First Resources said in its Oct. 24 filing that it was reviewing its notice and would provide the requested documents and information. Bumitama Agri and its subsidiaries said in an Oct. 24 filing they would provide the requested material. These statements describe ongoing or intended responses; they do not say the documents have been submitted.
Under Section 10, NEA may require documents and information for investigations into fires beyond Singapore that cause haze pollution there. In this inquiry, the agency wants records on business relationships in Singapore and Indonesia, the locations of Indonesian concessions, and what the companies or related firms did to prevent or fight fires during the dry season.
The seven other recipients are Asia Pulp & Paper Company Limited, Asia Pulp & Paper Company (China) Limited, Golden Agri International Pte Ltd, Indofood Agri Resources Ltd, Kencana Agri Ltd, TSH Global Plantation Pte Ltd and TSH Oversea Pte Ltd. NEA said the 10 businesses operate in palm oil or forestry and have ties to concession land in Indonesia through their own holdings or associated companies.
Earlier in October, NEA sent Section 9 preventive-measure notices to seven Indonesian companies over fires in Sumatra on Oct. 16, then to three more over fires in Kalimantan on Oct. 19. Those notices called for firefighting personnel, no burning and plans to extinguish fires or prevent them from spreading or returning. NEA presented the Oct. 23 requests as part of an inquiry into possible company involvement in transboundary haze; its announcement did not declare any recipient responsible for a fire. The agency’s Environmental Protection Division listed a previous information notice to an unnamed Singapore-registered firm in its 2015 annual report. Neither the NEA announcement nor the three company filings states a deadline for supplying the requested information.
