Alhassan Tampuli
he National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has shut down a total of 21 Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) filling stations in some parts of the country.
The move, according to NPA, became necessary after it observed that the affected stations – located in Kumasi, Ho, Accra and Takoradi – had not met the minimum operating and safety requirements, hence posing a threat to human lives and properties.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPA, Hassan Tampuli, made this known in an interview with DAILY GUIDE.
He said the closure was done on Thursday, October 12, 2017, after safety audits by officials of the Authority on the various stations.
According to him, more stations are likely to be shut down by the time the Inspectorate and Monitoring Unit of NPA was done with the inspection.
NPA ‘shot into action’ following the gas explosion at Atomic Junction in Accra on October 7, this year, which killed seven persons – including a cameraman of Net2 Television attached to the presidential press corps – and injured about 132 persons.
Following the explosion, President Akufo-Addo issued a directive for the deployment of a taskforce to within 30 days assess the risk that Ghana’s current LPG infrastructure poses in terms of public health and safety.
DAILY GUIDE contacted Mr Tampuli after the directive had been issued to find out what NPA was doing to ensure public safety as far as threat from LPG’s infrastructure in the country is concerned.
By Melvin Tarlue