Mangrove Destroyed in Gorontalo

Gorontalo (Antara Bali) - Gorontalo Governor Rusli Habibie said around 85 percent of mangrove forests in the district of Pohuwato in the province has been destroyed.

"This is against commitment of the government to preserve the environment," Rusli said when conducting aerial inspection of the mangrove forest in  Pohuwato.

Efforts to build infrastructure such as roads, bridges and irrigation systems  would fail in that district if the environment in upstream area is damaged.  
   
Failure to preserve the environment  could cause natural disasters like flooding and landslides  destroying  all infrastructure projects built with state funds, he said.

The Randangan irrigation systems  will be built at a cost of more than Rp350 billion  to be followed with plan to open 9,000 hectares of new rice fields in that area, he said. (*/DWA)