The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has refuted claims that there is shortage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the country as being speculated in some sections of the media.
Reports over the weekend suggested a scarcity of the commodity in some areas in the Greater Accra Region, with many gas stations putting up signs reading, "No Gas". According to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), gas stations at Madina, Ashaley Botwe and Adenta suburbs had closed their premises with sign reading "No Gas".
Long queues of vehicles as well as domestic petroleum gas users had become a common sight at the gas stations where there is gas for customers.
But speaking in an interview on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, the NPA Public Relations Officer, Yaro Kasambata, maintained that there is gas in the system. He, however, added that “the facility to discharge them to various points has become a challenge”.
He disclosed that there is more than 800 tonnes of gas but the gantry available cannot dispense large quantities of gas as expected to distribution vehicles.
“We have gas in the storage but...you need gantry…but the one we have cannot deliver a lot of gas as we would expect. What we deliver everyday to the market is 800 tonnes and this increases when there is a gas shortage but even that we still have the queues…There will be no need to say there is gas when there is no gas; there is gas but the challenge is infrastructure but we have not slept on the issue and luckily in a month or two, the problems will be over. LPG is delivered slowly because the delivery and the satisfaction is also about safety and security which does not have to be compromised…,” he said.
Yaro Kasambata said the NPA is working on a system where LPG will be pumped into various trucks directly from the vessel, instead of waiting for it to get to Accra before they are discharged. He gave the assurance that when this is done, distribution will be easy and the seeming shortage will be no more.
"We are working on a system where vessels can be pumped straight into waiting trucks; we have the approval now and very soon that project will start. In about a month or two the project in Tema should be up and running; the fact that we have (some form of) shortage does not mean that we need to compromise on safety and quality…Government does not have funds to fund extra resources to build other facilities...," he added.
Source: Beatrice Adepa Frempong/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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