Dar Petroleum Operating Company (DPOC) based in Paloch oil fields has warned the community at Paloch staying at the oil well areas to move to a safer environment.
By Jacob Achiek Jok
BOR, 29 August 2013 [Gurtong] – DPOC authorities reported to the team lead by Melut County commissioner, Akuoch Teng Dieng to assess the areas where communities are residing.
“There is one concern now especially in Paluoch town, the community is staying too close to the wealth now, and if you have times we can see them and probability it importance if we can reallocate them,” said DPOC Engineer, Mohamed Azrol.
Mohamed Azrol said that communities in places where oil production take places stay at about 300 meters away from the oil fields.
“The community is suppose to lives at about 300 meters away for the safety of human lives, while in Paloch people are living only 50 meters and others at less than 50 meters away from oil stations, and pipelines because it is harmful to their health,” he said.
He said that there will be no accommodation around the areas near and people should stay at about 250 meters only.
Meanwhile, Melut County Commissioner, Akuoch Teng Dieng, has agreed the suggestion made by the oil company regarding the assessment of the communities’ settlement before evacuation, saying that they will be able to see the case together with DPOC Oil Company.
The DPOC representative told the team comprising of oil task force and members of oil unions from different countries that their environmental situation is clean.
Dar Petroleum Operating Company (DPOC) has suggested the new Paloch so that the residents of Paluoch living near the pipelines and around the oil well should be evacuated for safety.
In a plan set by DPOC, they constructed hospital through the support from China National Petroleum Corporation with coordination from the ministry of Energy and Mining in 2006 in new Paluoch.
Meanwhile community refuses to move to the new area and requested the DPOC to construct for them houses for accommodation and needs compensation before they move to new location for resettlement.
“We will not move to the new location for resettlement if our views are not considered, if they don’t pay us or make houses then we will remain here and die from here because this is our mothers places,” said the Paramount chief of Melut county, Philip Gieth Thon Anyang.
Gieth said that they were not well informed about the construction of the new Paloch, they were informed to move to new Paloch after construction of health facility was over and they instructed the DPOC to constructs for them houses to the residents.
“They make temporary shelters which we rejected because they were not good for us to lives in,” he said.