The Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) expert committee, appointed under the directives of the Attorney General (AG), is to submit a quantification report at the end of this week to the AG over the anticipated civil liabilities that resulted from the bunker oil spill caused by the fire onboard MT New Diamond, The Sunday Morning learnt.
“We have appointed an expert committee under the AG’s directives to prepare a quantification of costs report assessing the environmental damage and impact that is to be anticipated by the fisheries sector due to the bunker oil spill that occurred after the accident,” MEPA Deputy General Manager A.J.M. Gunasekara told The Sunday Morning.
The report will also include the costs the MEPA and the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) will have to incur for future monitoring exercises to assess the marine pollution impact that the bunker oil spill will cause.
Despite the Covid-19 prevention protocols that are currently in place, MEPA said it was hopeful that at least by the end of this week, they will be able to present the report to the AG.
“The expert committee is working on compiling the report these days. If the shipping company agrees to settle these out of court, then we will follow the due procedure. If not, legal proceedings will be followed, should they want to settle it within the legal framework. We will only have clear directives after this week’s meeting with the AG and after they have observed the estimations that we would submit,” Gunasekara explained.
MEPA had received Rs. 52 million out of the Rs. 442 million that was paid to the Sri Lankan Government as part of the payment for clean-up activities, deployment of instruments to mitigate the bunker oil spill, and preliminary assessment of the bunker oil spill.
According to Gunasekara, the bulk of the Rs. 442 million was allocated to the firefighting and rescue operations that were carried out by multiple institutions and towards legal fees.
(The Morning)