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| Tuesday, 12 February 2002 |
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by Tharika Goonathilake The Marine Pollution Prevention Authority (MPPA) will introduce an oil spill contingency plan for Sri Lanka this year to deal with emergency measures necessary in the event of oil spill accidents. At present, the MPPA, the main body regulating the country's marine waters, does not have a concrete contingency action plan to deal with an emergency situation, MPPA Vice Chairman Ranjith Jayasuriya told the 'Daily News'. The contingency plan, is being developed as part of Rs 95 million Norwegian Project initiated to assess the risk and impact of oil spills, identify vulnerable ecosystems, introduce pollution prevention mechanism and strengthen the institutional framework of MPPA to put in place an effective regulatory and oil spill contingency plan for the country. According to Mr. Jayasuriya, an emergency plan is essential given the large number of oil tankers and ships that carry crude oil and other chemicals through our marine waters. Statistics compiled by the MPPA reveal that over 110 million tonnes of oil is carried by various tankers and vessels passing through our territorial waters every year. However no monitoring mechanism is in place. "The majority of these vessels are technically in poor condition and this increases the chances of accidents and spills. So far Sri Lanka has not suffered a major oil spill disaster except for an incident that occurred in 1999. But, this is one area that warrants priority," Mr. Jayasuriya noted. He said the MPPA was currently in the process of identifying the shortcomings in the technical and monitering aspects and the action plan will take these defects into consideration. Measures are also being taken to amend the Marine Pollution Prevention Act of 1989, to keep in pace with the requirements of present day problems. |
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