The Hydro Carbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) is all geared up to commence the assessment, remediation, and restoration of complex oil-polluted sites in Ogoni land, Rivers State.
This development comes after a delegation from HYPREP, led by the project coordinator, took a Belgium-based remediation company, Haemers Technology, on an inspection tour of polluted sites in Alode, Eleme local government areas of Rivers State on Wednesday.
The delegation, including the Chief Executive Officer Jan Haemers and other management officials from Haemers Technology, is in Nigeria to inspect the high-risk sites awarded to them by HYPREP.
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Their objective is to conduct a thorough assessment before commencing remediation and restoration activities.
Speaking at one of the polluted sites in Alode Eleme, HYPREP’s project coordinator, Nenibarini Zabbey, expressed confidence in the selected company’s ability to handle this phase of the project efficiently.
“Our remediation process is structured into phases. The first phase dealt with the simple sites. The current phase we are dealing with the medium-risk sites, then this next phase will be the high-risk/ Complex sites,” Zabbey explained.
Jan Haemers also assured delivery of the project efficiently, acknowledging that due to the complexity of the pollution which affected their deep soil and underground water, the assessment will last a while as the remediation will kick in April next year.
Currently, remediation and restoration works are ongoing at various stages in over 100 polluted sites in Ogoni land.
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This project was initiated following a recommendation in the 2011 environmental report by the United Nations Environmental Programme, with HYPREP spearheading the assignment since its commissioning in 2017.
