Ogoni Cleanup to commence next week as FG handover sites to contractors

…Insists work must be of good quality, meet deadline

The Federal Government said the Ogoni land clean up will kick start with the handing over of the polluted sites to contractors next week Wednesday.

This will mark the effective commencement of the remediation process, it said.

The government insisted that the Ogoni cleanup is expected to be executed with the right specifications within the timeframe and budgets.

The Minister of Environment, Suleiman Hassan Zarma speaking at a briefing to kick off Ogoniland clean up yesterday in Abuja, said they are expecting high performance from the contractors, as the work must be of good quality and durable.

The minister insisted that the contractors were qualified to carry out the remediation process.

Speaking, the Project Coordinator of Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project, (HYPREP) Dr Marvin Dekil said contrary to reports that the contractors are not suitable, he said due process were followed in picking the contractors.

He said they adopted a very robust and transparent process to arrive at that final list of contractors having gone through all the required permit and that they all met the mandatory and regulatory requirement.

Presenting the terms of contracts to the contractors, the Project Management Consultant of HYPREP, Engr Eric Onyeiwu noted that the work must be of good quality, saying emphasis is more on quality as they will not entertain any claim that is not documented.

He said they will not accept extension unless where necessary, urging the contractors to bear in mind that the work is time bond.

While noting that every kobo must count, he said that the terms of payment has been concluded  in a way that the contractors will not experience difficulty, saying advance payment of 15 per cent will be given to commence the work.

Payment will be in three installments, the first 40 per cent will be paid after 40 per cent of the work is done and second 40 will be paid when he work gets to 80 per cent and the balance of 20 per cent will be paid after 100 percent of completion, he said.