Total Uganda has said they will continue with their efforts to ensure a safe and clean environment in areas where they operate.
Addressing journalists on Friday, Total Uganda General Trade Manager, Francis Sekate explained that as part of their commitment they have continued to work towards working towards the expectations of their clients and the public at large.
“To make sure we respect the environment and the people that exist in the areas we operate in, remediation is a process we normally carry out by sending a team to pick soil samples from the areas where the stations are located. We take them to the lab, analyse them and look at how much hydrocarbon components have entered into the soil,”Sekate said.
He noted that the hydrocarbon components are measured and if they are found, the soil is removed, taken, and treated before returning it.
“Soils are connected to streams connecting to spring wells where our people get water. The soils should therefore not have any hydrocarbons. It is an assurance we are giving to customers and people living around our business that they will have a clean environment.”
In 2017, Total completed a shs1.4 trillion acquisition of the Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation’s (GAPCO) assets in the East Africa region to give the French company a 28% market share in Uganda and about 36% market dominance in the region.
The company then embarked on the process of rebranding and the Acacia Avenue station is among those taken over from GAPCO and according to the Total Uganda General Trade Manager, they carried out a remediation process at all GAPCO stations that they took over; in order to be sure the environs are clean.
He said that areas where they construct new fuel stations, they use double skin wall tanks that even if there is any leakage with the interior wall of the tank, it cant move to the ground.
“The fuel will go to the second chamber which is fitted with sensors to alert us of the leakage from the first to a second layer. We quickly work on it,”Sekate said.
Speaking about the just concluded Africa customer week, he explained that they were able to reach out to several customers around the country to get feedback about their products.
He noted that the initiative carried out all over the continent saw the French company respond to several concerns from their clients
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