Kebba Ansu Manneh
Stakeholders, comprising Gambia Petroleum (GP), National Environmental Agency (NEA), National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), Gambia Maritime Administration (GMA) and Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) have budgeted one million and seven hundred thousand dalasi (D1.7 million) for the removal of spill oil on River Gambia.
This was disclosed on Friday at a press conference organised by the joint stakeholders’ taskforce committee tasked to assess and investigate the causes and the impact of the spilled oil on River Gambia and its consequences on the ecology and marine species.
It could be recalled that on 28th May, 2022, between the hours 02:30 to 03:30am MT FT STURLA vessel that was discharging Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) at the Mandinari Depot discharged more than seventy thousand (70, 000) liters of HFO through ruptured pipe that leaked into the River Gambia which the crew members of vessel and Gambia Petroleum (GP) Company were late to notice.
However, at the press conference the taskforce disclosed that the one million and seventy hundred thousand dalasi (D1.7 million) have been budgeted to clean-up more than five (5) kilometers oil spillage, adding that the country has the capacity to do the clean-up of the spill oil without support from external companies to conduct such an exercise.
“We will need shocks, we will need buckets, we will need gloves, we will need spades, we will need wheelbarrows, we will need personnel who have to be mobilised, we will need divers, we have to deploy drones to go and reconfirm before the exercise.
These are all costings that have to be done before the exercise, because if you want to do a clean-up exercise you can’t just get up and start, you need to establish and actually identify where the oil spillage is,” Nicolas Jatta, of PURA stated on behalf of stakeholder task force committee.
He added: “We have to predetermine these places and also assess the places, these are all things we have to do before the clean-up. Originally, the estimated cost for this clean-up was about D1.7 million, less than two million (D2 Million).”
According to him, the taskforce has completed preliminary assessment of the oil spillage and is now set to begin the clean-up exercise over the weekend.
He further disclosed that Gam Petroleum have agreed to foot the entire bills of the clean-up exercise in their quest to restore sanity in the areas affected by the spillage.
Njagga Touray, Director Inter-Sectoral Services also affirmed that the taskforce has completed the assessment of the affected areas, adding that five (5) kilometres perimeter area have been affected specifically around the mangrove areas.
“We cannot estimate the level of damage done to the ecosystem at the moment but there is no doubt that the spillage will affect the livelihoods of many peoples especially the women. Most of the women who depend on oyster collection have to abandon their activities because of the spillage,” Njagga Touray pointed out.
He added: “Right now our focus is to embark on the clean-up of the oil spill in areas that have been affected. Both NEA and GMA has laws to prosecute anyone who cause pollution on the environment and if the need be, GamPetroleum will be prosecuted
Sanna Dahaba, Executive Director, National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) assured the public that every effort need will be done to enduring that the spill oil is clean, adding that his agency has already deployed drones with support from UNITAR that allows the task force to gather satellite images from the affected areas.
He said the entire cleanup exercise is a process not an event that can take days to round up, adding that the taskforce will continue with their assessment while clean-up exercise starts on Sunday.
The Voice Newspaper can authoritatively report that the clean-up of the oil spill has already started yesterday Sunday at Kunkujang Jattaya village that will go up to Boto village in Kombo East District.