The Hydrocarbon Remediation Project HYPREP says it has entered the final phase of selection for companies that will handle the clean-up exercise of the oil-impacted sites in Ogoniland.
The Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Dr Marvin Dekil stated this during the opening of technical and financial bids to evaluate the capacity of the bidding firms in Port Harcourt on Monday.
Dr Marvin Dekil said that 183 firms are taking part in the exercise and assured that the best companies will be selected for the clean-up exercise.
He noted that 21 firms will make the final list and stated that the bidding process is in line with the Public Procurement Act.
Dr Marvin Dekil explained that the process may take up to three weeks but said the process will be very transparent.
”Today is another milestone covered in the project in the commitment of the federal government towards the implementation of the UNEP Report on Ogoniland”.
”We started with the initial adverts, we received submissions from 400 companies and we pre-qualified about 183 companies and what we are doing today is further screening of these 183 firms by commercial and technical assessment of their capabilities”
”So the exercise today is the beginning of the last phase of the activities that we need to do to select the companies that will be deployed to site in compliance with the Public Procurement Act and also ensuring that they are the companies with the best technical capacity to carry out remediation across the sites we are opening for remediation” he stated.
The Project Coordinator of HYPREP also assured that the clean-up of oil-impacted sites in Ogoniland will still take place this year.
The Representative of the Minister of State for Environment, Dr Ishaku Mohammed said the conclusion of the bidding process will lead to the actual implementation of the UNEP Report in Ogoniland.
He stated that the federal government is committed to extending the clean-up exercise to other parts of Niger Delta.
