Rotterdam/Oman environmental protection service

The Sohar Industrial Port Company (situated between Dubai and the Omani capital of Muscat) is a joint venture between the PoR and the Sultanate of Oman. In close consultation with the PoR and Oman’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, the DCMR Environmental Protection Agency Rijnmond will assist in the setting-up of this environmental protection agency. The cooperation between the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the DCMR, which has already been in effect for decades in Rotterdam’s Rijnmond area, has inspired the Omani government to come to a similar cooperational structure. The DCMR will assist in the training of local personnel focusing on inspections, supervision and the issuing of permits. The port of Sohar is rapidly developing. As a result, there is a growing need to implement a structural approach to the issuing of permits and the exercise of supervision. The establishment of an “Industrial Environmental Unit” will contribute to this. In five years’ time, virtually all of the 2000 hectares of the port of Sohar have been issued. At the end of the year, the port will commence the development of a new economic area spanning another 4500 hectares. The DCMR was founded in 1972 in order to improve environmental protection in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region. This region is a heavily industrialised area with refineries, waste incinerators, sevaral waste dumping sites, many large chemical plants, metallurgy, food processing plants and about 19,500 smaller companies. The tasks of the DCMR include The DCMR issues permits to virtually all of the 22,000 enterprises in the area and carries out more than 9,000 inspections to monitor compliance with the permit conditions. It supervises and monitors clean-up programmes to minimise the impact of soil pollution, waste disposal and noise. The DCMR issues an annual environmental monitoring report for the Rotterdam region, together with other local and regional organisations. The project team compiles, analyses and assesses the information of the Rotterdam region. The information is categorised in three main chapters: quality of the environment, sources of pollution and improvement efforts.