Indorama denies responsibilty for soot emission in Portharcourt

Indorama Eleme Petrochemical, the Rivers State based manufacturer of Poly-Polyethylene and Polypropylene products, has denied responsibility for the emission of soot in Portharcourt, capital of the state.
The company explained that its closed system of operation is not capable of emitting soot into the environment as its operations did not allow for incomplete combustion.
Jossy Nkwocha, the firm’s Head of Corporate Communications who took journalists on a tour of the company’s facilities on Monday, said the company decided to invite the media to assess its operations in order to set the record on rumours linking the company with the pervasive soot problem in the city.
“We have invited this calibre of journalists to this facility because we believe in being proactive. We believe that we are an open book. We don’t have anything. We invited you because of the raging issues of soot.
“Last week, we invited the radio people to come because we were accused of generating soot. Our response has always been to bring them to come and see for themselves. We have invited you as a third party to see what we are doing. Indorama does not emit soot whatsoever. There is no soot in Indorama. We have not been accused of soot officially, but because of the rumour here and there we decided to bring you in”, he said.
Nwkocha said that soot was a product of incomplete combustion emphasising that Indorama maintained a facility that monitored and controlled emission.
He added that the firm subjects it facility to quarterly audits by bringing auditing teams from agencies of government noting that if the firm was actually responsible emitting soot, the government would have known.
He stated that the company was being monitored by ministries of health at state and federal levels, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and others.
He said the company will also invite non-governmental organisations working on the environment, heads of departments of environments at state and federal levels to visit the facility for assessment of its operations.
Indorama produces 3,000,000 metric tons of fertilizers annually and supplies to over 32 million farmers.
Nkwocha said that the company contributes significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country adding that over 7000 workers were employed by the company.