RSG Intervenes In PH Diesel Leakage

At last, respite seems to have come the way of residents of Bonny, Niger and Bendel Streets in the old Port Harcourt township, following the quick intervention of Rivers State Government to stop an underground diesel leakage in the area.

As at yesterday, men of the state fire service and some officials of the state Ministry of Environment cordoned-off some parts of the streets to prevent further spread of the petroleum.

Rivers State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Dr Dawari George in the company of Commissioner for Special Duties, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya told reporters briefly after inspecting the site of the incident that they had identified the source of the leakage.

He told newsmen that experts had been engaged to put the leakage under control, while he urged residents not to panic following the spread of the product inside some of the major drains that runs through the neighbourhood.

Dr George, however, warned some of the residents to desist from scooping the product, which he identified as AGO (diesel).

His words, “it is obvious that whenever you have petroleum products, especially where you have leakages, people go there to scoop products. It is dangerous and could often lead to more problems.”

It is believed that the diesel, which started leaking some weeks ago, according to some of the resident, might have been as a result of a ruptured underground pipeline within the vicinity.

Though experts are yet to ascertain the track of the pipeline, residents told pressmen on Saturday when it was reported, that there were possibilities that the product might have leaked from an old pipeline.

Further investigations by The Tide indicate that the neighbourhood in recent times had harboured several illegal petrol and diesel dumps.

Though most of the dumps have been closed down by the taskforce set up by the state authorities to curb indiscriminate hawking of petroleum products in residential areas, some of the operators still carryout their activities secretly.