Alhassan Tampuli – NPA Boss
The National
Petroleum Authority (NPA) has said it will soon begin piloting the Cylinder
Recirculation Model (CRM) in Obuasi and at Kwaebibirem in the Ashanti and
Eastern regions respectively.
It said these
two towns were selected as a result of good control and traceability of
cylinders, active refilling outlets with consistent LPG sales over the past six
months and multiplicity of LPG Marketing Companies (LPGMCs).
The Chief
Executive Officer of NPA, Hassan Tampuli, disclosed this at CRM stakeholder engagement
held in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday.
The event
was part of the NPA’s nationwide exercise to engage members of the public on
the policy, their contributions or feedback and how, together, the policy can
be rolled out to address the needs of the consumer. In attendance were Ashanti
queen mothers, police wives association, army wives association, fire service
wives association, caterers association, LPG marketers and dealers, among
others.
Mr Tampuli
said funding had been secured by the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company to
produce the 37,000 cylinders needed for the pilot exercise.
“Cylinders
produced now will be based on the accepted Ghana Standard Authority’s standard
for imports or domestic production,” he stated.
Touching on
risk assessment of LPG facilities, the NPA Chief Executive said it would
stretch the exercise to cover about 66 senior high schools across the country.
Mr Tampuli
explained that the move formed part of the ongoing process of implementing the CRM
policy which is aimed at providing direction for marketing and distribution of
LPG in a safe and efficient manner, and to facilitate an increase in access to
LPG nationwide.
“Among the
things earmarked for implementation of the CRM include risk assessment of LPG
facilities in 66 second-cycle schools in the country, compliance monitoring of
all assessed LPG refilling outlets, second-cycle school facilities and selected
facilities (TOR, TFC, GNGC, Quantum terminal and Tema Oil Jetty) in the value
chain,” he added.
Speaking at
the event, Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, urged the public to
support the cylinder recirculation project.
He mentioned
that many fire outbreaks could have been avoided if regular checks had been
done by refilling agents at gas stations.
The minister,
therefore, encouraged NPA to intensify the implementation process of the CRM to
enable all homes in Kumasi to have leak-free cylinders.
Chairing the
occasion, Nana Adu Mensah, Chief of Amakom, who represented the Asantehene
commended NPA for the project.
He said
quality cylinders had the potential to reduce the incidences of fire.
