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.