Government instituted the ban in 2017 after a gas explosion occurred at the Atomic Junction
• The BPS says it does not expect a ban to be lifted on the setting of LPG refill outlets
• Government placed the ban back in 2017 after a gas explosion occurred at Madina
• The CRM was proposed as a resolution to the incident
The Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) has stated it does not expect government to lift the ban on the construction of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) refill outlets across the country.
The stance comes after government in 2017 instituted the ban following a massive gas explosion at Madina-Atomic Junction in Accra which claimed seven lives and others injured.
Executive Director of the Bureau, Nana Yaw Akwada, said it rather expects government to give a go-ahead for the siting of LPG cylinder points under the Cylinder Re-Circulation Model (CRM).
“To say I did not expect it to be lifted might be misleading. What we are saying is that the ban may be lifted but not for the construction of filling stations because we know that plans are very advanced into the cylinder recirculation model implementation and so the number of filling stations or filling points are going to reduce significantly,” Akwada is quoted to have said by Citi Business News.
He added, “The number of distribution points where users or consumers will have to go and purchase their gas or cylinders is going to increase. So originally a station that came under the ban may not be allowed to continue to build a filling station but may be allowed to develop it into a distribution centre,” he
As part of efforts to curb further explosions, government placed a ban on the construction of new LPG outlets and later proposed the CRM as a resolution.
The CRM which is to be implemented by the National Petroleum Authority was kicked against by LPG Marketers Association who claimed the initiative could render them jobless.
The association on the other hand has persistently been requesting for the ban to lifted.