Lift Ban On Construction Of New LPG Stations – Gov’t Told

The Ghana Liquefied Petroleum Gas Operators Association (GLiPGOA) has called on government to as a matter of urgency lift the ban on construction of new gas stations in rural areas.

The group is among other things, also appealing that all LPG stations that have been shut down are reopened for business.

Government in October 2017, imposed a ban on the construction of new gas stations and also closed down existing ones which did not meet standard operation requirements.

It followed the gas explosion at Atomic junction in Accra.

But in an interview with Citi News, president of the association, Togbe Adaku V justified their demands insisting that, expanding their businesses to the rural areas is in line with the climate change policy.

“We need to go to the villages. The rural areas need to get access to the LPG. Per the UN’s policy on 60% penetration and safety of human rights you are supposed to give free stoves and free gas to the rural folks. And when they give this, we should help them. And the advise is that we should be planting trees to replace the forest they have depleted already because this is also against climate change.”

On the issue of cylinder recirculation, Togbe Adaku V accused authorities of deliberating sabotaging the association to their benefit.

Apart from concerns over the loss of jobs, the Ghana LPG Operators Association has constantly complained that proper stakeholder consultations were not carried out as they were not engaged on the policy.

It is for this reason that they threatened to sue the government if it failed to reach a consensus with all stakeholders on the module last year.

Even ahead of this, the operators embarked on a strike as part of protests against the government's decision to implement the policy.

CRM to provide jobs

Meanwhile, in response to the concerns of the gas operators, the National Petroleum Authority has said the Cylinder Recirculation Model would create at least 4500 jobs across the country.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, Hassan Tampuli the module when fully introduced would create jobs for distributors and retailers at the various bottling plants.

Two companies, so far have been given licenses to establish and operate LPG bottling plants in different parts of the country although over 20 companies have applied for the licenses.

—citinewsroom