Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s Peatland Restoration Agency (Peatland) has set to restore 140,000 ha of peatland in Riau province in 2018, five times more than last year.

Nazir Foead, the head of agency said his agency recovered 27,000 ha of peatland in 2017, and with the involvement of more agencies in this year, the area of restored peatland will be expanded.

To realise the target, Indonesia will spend 49.5 billion rupiah (3.8 million USD) on the work.

Located in the Sumatra island, Riau is often hit by forest fires. The area has about 4.8 million ha of peatland.

In its long-term plan, the country plans to restore 900,000 ha of peatland in Riau.

The agency has also supported the land restoration programme in building infrastructure systems in the locality, including drilling wells and digging canals.-VNA