IPOH, Sep 18 — Despite the thick haze here, Perak Department of Environment director Norazizi Adinan said weather conditions are not conducive for successful cloud seeding operations yet.
Norazizi said each cloud seeding attempt costs around RM100,000, making it vital to maximise the chances of success.
“We need to have suitable weather and proper planning before carrying out the operation.
“If we do it at the wrong time, the operation will fail and we might lose RM100,000. That is why some states have yet to carry out the operation even though the haze is bad at their locations,” he told a press conference at the State Secretariat Building here.
A total of 303 schools with nearly 86,000 students in Perak were ordered closed today after the Air Pollutant Index (API) exceeded the 200 mark and entered the ‘very unhealthy’ territory.
The districts affected were Manjung, Bagan Datuk, Hilir Perak and Central Perak.
State Environment Committee chairman Abdul Aziz Bari said the schools will stay closed until the haze recedes but added that several areas in the state still have unhealthy air at the moment.
“As of 8am today, four air quality monitoring stations in Perak still recorded unhealthy status.
“The four stations were in Taiping (API 180), Lumut (API 197), Tasek (API 139) and Pegoh (API 128),” he said.
