The President of the Ghana Liquified Petroleum and Gas Operators Association of Ghana (GLPGOA), Mr. Kwame Sheikh has appealed to the government to immediately lift the ban on the construction of new Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) outlets after the Atomic Gas explosion in 2017.
According to him, prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas has gone up because there is a ban on the private sector from opening gas station to serve the communities.
He noted that users of Liquefied Petroleum Gas have now resorted to the use of charcoal as fuel for cooking.
“If the government lifts the sanctions and allow market penetration, the prices of the product will be cheaper and many Ghanaians would use the product instead of resorting to cutting down of trees in the middle belt and up north.” Mr. Sheikh said
Addressing the media at the sideline of this year’s Association of the Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC) Safety Week Celebration (ASWEC 2022), on the theme; ‘Petroleum Accident Brings Tears, Safety Brings Cheers,’ he said one of the ways Ghana can resolve the issue of deforestation is to make LPG product cheaper and more accessible to the people.
This, he said, can only be achieved if government lifts the ban.
Mr. Sheikh said it is high time the government of Ghana break the monopoly and allow market penetration adding that the Cylinder Circulation Model adopted by the government some years ago contributed to the ban.
He said one truck fully loaded with charcoal is equivalent to the cutting down of 4 big trees adding that in other jurisdiction, Gas is piped into people’s homes.
Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Duah, CEO Oil Marketing Company
“The Government is not allowing us to open more LPG plants in the villages across the country and, that is why demand for charcoal and fire, is up through the roof.
“If the government of Ghana would allow us to open more Gas fuel plants in every village, a lot of Gas would be accessible. This is the result of restrictions on Gas development over the last 4 to 5 years. Therefore, there is so much increase in cutting down of trees in the forest to get firewood and charcoal”.
