The Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Dr. Marvin Dekil, has said the list of pre-qualified companies for the provision of water and health study for the impacted communities under the emergency measures of the UNEP Report for the clean-up of Ogoniland has been released.
Dr Dekil, in a statement, said though HYPREP might be receiving a lot of pressure to provide water, all processes must be carried out with the deliberate consciousness of ensuring that at the end, the people of Ogoni have potable water to drink.
He explained that the provision of water in Ogoniland was in two categories such as the existing water facilities which need to be assessed and rehabilitated and the putting in place of new facilities.
He said HYPREP, during the process, carried out a survey on all open hand dug wells across Ogoniland in the four local government areas to assess the level of contamination underneath the ground water.
Dekil said the result of the survey will provide the information required as to where the new water facilities should be located.
He said if HYPREP must provide water that is of acceptable standard, the process must be followed, adding that HYPREP is a project of the Federal Government and all procurement processes must align with the laid down procedures as contained in the Procurement Act of 2007.
He assured that in no distant time, the process will be concluded and the successful contractors will be taken to site just as with the 16 remediation contractors that have been handed over sites to commence work.
He said contrary to speculations, HYPREP had since 2017 began the implementation of some of the emergency measures.
Dr. Dekil explained that as much as HYPREP desired to help indigenous contractors, it should be noted that the standard required for Ogoni clean-up is the highest around the world,which was why the Federal Government brought in UNEP to carry out the assessment.
However, he added, the indigenous companies have the opportunity to build their capacity with this first phase of the project and subsequently obtained the necessary requirements that will qualify them for jobs.
On centre of excellence, he said: “All aspects of the report were considered to be an emergency so the strategy for implementing it had to be changed. The technical activities in the communities, water, health all had to be executed concurrently.”
While admitting that the Centre of Excellence and the Integrated Soil Management Centre (ISMC) were not in place, he said HYPREP has carried out mapping to identify sites for the location of the facilities and that the procurement processes for them had commenced.
Dr. Dekil assured that the non-setting up of ISMC will not in any way jeopardise the remediation works currently going on in the communities, saying that the sites handed over did not require the ISMC.
He further explained that, ‘HYPREP had to carry out an initial scoping and delineation activity to ascertain the current state of the sites.
He however noted that the UNEP team will be setting up their office in Port Harcourt and will be providing back-to-back support to HYPREP in both capacity building and in the field.
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