Close schools if API breaches 200 - Wan Junaidi

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will inform and advise the Health Ministry to stop schooling session temporarily if the haze worsens.

Its Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said, nevertheless, the decision to do so was under the jurisdiction of the Education Ministry.

"We will monitor the haze. It is considered dangerous if the Air Pollutant Index breaches 200 and schools must be closed," he told reporters today.

Also present was the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Azizan Ahmad and National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) director-general Datuk Ahmad Jamaluddin Shaaban.

In the meantime, he said the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre detected 395 hotspots in Sumatra and 82 in Riau, Indonesia yesterday.

Wan Junaidi said the deterioration in the air quality and the haze in several areas on the West Coast and north of peninsula Malaysia currently was caused by cross boundary haze from Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia.

Earlier, he opened the Food and Agriculture Waste Project which was managed by NAHRIM in Ringlet.

The project, using the Biodigester System, is a disgestion system which can reduce water and environment pollution, producing organic fertiliser and generate methane gas for fuel and electrical energy.

The RM245,000 project is capable of dissolving 20 kg of food and vegatables a day.