The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is set to roll out the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) Policy in September this year, Deputy Chief Executive, NPA, Perry Okudzeto, has stated.
To be implemented in Accra and other selected parts of the country residents do not have to own a cylinder to use gas.
Gas users only have to pick up filled-up cylinders and pay for the content after registering with their national identity cards.
At a media briefing in Accra on Thursday, the planned implementation of the policy Mr Okudzeto said, would run side by side with the current distribution model until it was gradually phased out.
He said the inputs of the working committee which included LPG marketing companies who have been engaged in their several deliberations had been factored into the framework adding that there were no bottlenecks for the implementation of the programme.
“All industry players have been engaged and their ideas incorporated into framework which had been designed with their input and are ready to offer their support to ensure the success of the project,” he stressed.
Mr Okudzeto said the implementation of the CRM was to ensure that at least 50 per cent of Ghanaians have access to safe, clean and environmentally friendly LPG by 2030.
“It is also meant to improve access to LPG, improve safety in the distribution of LPG and to increase adoption as well as stop the unnecessary loss of lives and properties at gas filling stations, mostly due to human error,” he said.
Mr Okudzeto explained that filled cylinders would be transported in bulk to exchange depots for holding and sorting before been transported to cylinder exchange points.
He said specialised trucks would be used to transport the filled cylinders from the bottling plants to the retail stations, where consumers would exchange their empty cylinders for filled ones adding that “the registration with the Ghana card at the exchange points was necessary to have data on consumers for traceability”.
He said the programme had been well piloted, the system streamlined and the infrastructure put in place to ensure the safe delivery and use of LPG across the operational areas.
Mr Okudzeto said four CRM bottling facilities including Blue Ocean and APPEB Cylinder Manufacturing Company in Awutu Senya, SIGMA Cylinder Manufacturing Company in Accra and the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company at Spintex would be producing the cylinders to be distributed nationwide.
“So far, since 2017, the first step has been to construct bottling plants that will be the main pivot around which the policy will operate since under the new policy, cylinders are going to be filled with LPG and sent to exchange points for distribution,” Mr Okudzeto indicated.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
