Improving the quality of Kuwaiti soil that had largely been contaminated as a result of crude spills caused by the 1990 Iraqi invasion is a significant part of environmental protection, the oil ministry said on Tuesday.

Such a measure will be instrumental in rectifying the damage inflicted on Kuwaiti soil more than three decades ago, the oil ministry’s public relations chief Dr. Tamather Al-Sabah told a ministry-organized panel discussion on future environmental endeavors. Iraqi forces had set more than 700 oil wells ablaze to trigger the “biggest environmental catastrophe” in history, according to Dr. Mohammad Al-Qahtani, who is in charge of the ministry’s soil-related projects, most of which are being carried out in northern and southern areas, he said.

Numerous innovative techniques are utilized in these projects that aim to improve the quality of Kuwaiti soil, he underlined, citing biological treatment as one of many effective cleansing methods that go into such endeavors.

State-run Kuwait Oil Company’s soil-related projects chief Muthana Al-Mumen listed a number of recent programs that have been completed, chief among them a “green cover project” that covers some 30 square kilometers, he said.(KUNA)