Batangtoru, 3 December 2020–PT Agincourt Resources (PTAR), the operator of Martabe Gold Mine provides assistance of basic equipment for firefighting unit personnel of South Tapanuli District Government of Zone 3 that includes several subdistricts, namely Batangtoru, Muara Batangtoru, Marancar, Angkola Barat and Angkola Sangkunur. Not only that, as a form of concern for COVID-19 handling, PTAR also provides assistance in the form of restoration of Simago-mago Historical House in Sialagundi Village to be used as a quarantine office by COVID-19 Task Force of South Tapanuli.
Pramana explained, The Simago-Mago House appointed as one of the historic sites by the government of South Tapanuli, because since 1950, this house and area surrounding it have been used for agriculture and land nursery office such as for Executive Body Counselling and Food Security Office Building of South Tapanuli/UPDT Simago-Mago Mess, Agricultural Counselling Office (BPP), the hall of the office (Lambou) and the guardhouse. On 1953, the Vice President Mohammad Hatta was officially inaugurated the house and spent the night there. PTAR gave funds for the house’s renovation, including for the furniture such as desks, office chairs, computer and printer. The renovation took about 2 months to finish.
Moreover, for the assistance of firefighting unit, are in the form of five complete sets of Nomex III A heat-resistant suits and pants including gloves, helmets, and shoes, 4 units of zulu fire hose rubbers of 1,5″x30 m machino coupling, 4 units of zulu fire house rubbers of 2,5″x20 m machino coupling, 1 unit of fire extinguisher axle of 90 cm, and 1 unit of nozzle protect of 368 size 2.5″ machino coupling.
The provision of assistance was handed over by Senior Manager Community of PTAR, Pramana Triwahjudi and received directly by the Head of South Tapanuli District, Syahrul Pasaribu, in the office complex of South Tapanuli District Government, on Friday, 27 November 2020.
“All of this assistance is a form of PTAR’s seriousness in executing CSR or Community Development and Empowerment programs in the areas around Martabe Gold Mine particularly in the event of fire. Especially for the firefighting unit, this contribution is a continuation from the cooperation series in improving the capacity and preparedness of the Zone 3 firefighting unit personnel of South Tapanuli to be more optimal with adequate equipment in accordance with the standards in mitigating fire disaster. In 2016, PTAR also provided a fire truck unit,” said Pramana.
Furthermore, Pramana stated, that the provision of assistance is part of the capacity building for firefighting unit personel at Zone 3 of South Tapanuli. Previously, PTAR has designed a series of fire mitigation training for the task unit personnel along with PTAR Emergency Response Team (ERT), however, it is a little constrained due to COVID-19, so that some training is still delayed.
“Hopefully, we can continue this training with new methods to adjust to COVID-19 health protocols,” Pramana added.
Head of South Tapanuli District, Syahrul Pasaribu, thanked PTAR for the donation.
“We would like to thank PTAR management because this assistance is very useful particularly to improve the firefighting equipment around the mine, since the fire in Batangtoru Market last year caused some equipment to be fire-damaged. Furthermore, we are also grateful for the restoration of Simago-mago Historical House, because it now can be used as COVID-19 Task Force office of South Tapanuli. All assistance will be used optimally,” Syahrul concluded.
