The C-130 plane, equipped with cloud-seeding devices, will leave for Sumatra island by the end of the week after Indonesian authorities accepted the offer for help, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim.

Haze sparked by hundreds of ground fires in Sumatra has blanketed neighbouring Malaysia. There are fears of a repetition of conditions in 1997 and 1998 when the smoke enveloped parts of Southeast Asia for months, scaring away tourists and causing health problems.

Singapore has so far been unaffected.

Yaacob said he spoke with his Indonesian counterpart on Monday to get an update of the haze situation.

"So I offered... one C-130 aeroplane which can do cloud-seeding for the Indonesians. He (the minister) was appreciative of the offer. He agreed to accept it," Yaacob told reporters in remarks monitored on Singapore radio.

"I think this will help in the efforts to at least douse off the flames as quickly as possible."

Yaacob said Singapore and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "share a collective interest in the haze situation" because it will affect tourism in the region.

"We are all concerned equally about the image of ASEAN as an effect of this haze and he (the Indonesian environment minister) understands it also, that's why he was prepared to take the offer of support from Singapore, Malaysia and the other countries," Yaacob said.

"So we will do our part to work together with our Indonesian counterparts to try and control this problem. I think more importantly, ASEAN should come together and see this as an ASEAN challenge so that we can tackle this as quickly as possible."

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