Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme (Kerp), the largest environmental remediation project in the world, has made significant progress and is expected to be completed on schedule, according to Muthanna Al-Mumin, a team leader for remediation projects at state-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).Kerp was originally established by the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) to allow Kuwait to address the ecological damage resulting from the 1990-91 Gulf War.More than 30 years after the UNCC was created to ensure restitution for Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion of 1990, the reparations body announced in February 2022 that it had processed its final claim, amounting to $52.4bn in total.Kerp itself is understood to be deploying about $3.5bn of the reparation funds, cleaning up the damage caused by oil spills related to the war.The project to clean up all of the crude that was spilled as a result of the war stalled for decades due to the unique challenges that the clean-up project poses, but in recent years there has been a surge in activity with major tenders and contract awards.The project has been divided into three main project areas, which are known as North Kuwait Excavation Transportation Remediation (NKETR), South Kuwait Excavation Transportation Remediation (SKETR) and South Kuwait Excavation Transportation Remediation 2 (SKETR-2).The five contracts for NKETR and SKETR were awarded in 2021.These are:NKETR A – Sabria: Kharafi (Kuwait) / Lamor (Finland) – $194mNKETR B – Raudatain: KCPC (Kuwait) / ETC (Saudi Arabia) – $188mSKETR A – Greater Burgan: Kharafi / Lamor – $197mSKETR B – Greater Burgan: Heisco (Kuwait) / Zaopin Hangzhou (China) – $185mSKETR C – Greater Burgan: Enshaat Alsayer (Kuwait) / Water & Soil Remediation (Italy) – $250mAl-Mumin said: “As part of the Kerp project, the NKETR and SKETR contracts are progressing well, with a completion rate of over 54%.“Furthermore, nearly 55 square kilometres have been cleared of unexploded ordinance (UXO), and more than 25 square kilometres have been cleared of contamination.”Steady progressOverall, the project has exceeded treatment quantities of more than 8.5 million tons of contaminated soil in total, according to Al-Mumin.All contractors have exceeded 1.44 million tons of soil treatment, and one has reached 2 million tons.Three landfills are now receiving contaminated soil from the treatment process, or untreatable material that has been segregated prior to treatment.Two of the landfills have been newly created in South Kuwait and one is an extension of an existing landfill in North Kuwait.KOC is closely coordinating with Kuwait’s Defence Ministry to ensure that the UXO is dealt with in a safe and secure manner, according to Al-Mumin.“The works have been managed smoothly and efficiently,” he said.As well as using bioremediation techniques, contractors have started to use mechanical remediation systems to treat soil with higher contamination levels.Once these systems are operating at a full capacity, it is expected that they will reduce dependence on landfills. (ICE KUWAIT)

Fonte notizia: Meed