The National Petroleum Authority (NPA), regulator of petroleum downstream industry in Ghana, has outlined reasons Ghanaians must not oppose but embrace the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) being implemented by government.
Implementation of the CRM, according to the NPA would increase coverage in distribution and ensure Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is accessible to more homes across the country, particularly homes in the northern part of the country.
The introduction of the model, an order from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo following a number of unfortunate explosions that occurred in some LPG refilling stations is being opposed by the Ghana Liquefied Petroleum Gas Operators Association.
The association fears there would be job losses when the CRM becomes operational and more than 7,000 people will be out of the job market.
But speaking at a workshop on the Implementation of the CRM in Accra, Tuesday, CEO of the NPA, Alhassan Tampuli reiterated the implementation of the model would not render Ghanaians jobless.
He said, there are rather numerous benefits the country stands to enjoy following the take-off of the CRM.
“We want to be able to move beyond the current 23 to 25% of LPG penetration across the country a desirable stage of about 50% consumption. It’s become necessary for us to do something different if we intend to get different results. We can’t do same thing every day and expect to get different result,” Mr. Tampuli said.
He said the committee responsible for the implementation of the CRM has embarked on a working visit to countries including Morocco, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, India, Peru and Colombia to gain perspectives on how to successfully roll out the CRM.
“We want to be able to deliver a model that responds to our peculiar needs. We do not seek to copy any of the examples we’ve gone to see. We want to do a bespoke arrangement that will be enduring, that’ll stand the test of time and be able to deal with the challenges and fears that we have over the past couple of years,” he reiterated.
Presenting the details of the research on the implementation, Esther Anku, Chief Inspector and Director of Inspections and Monitoring at the NPA said, when successfully implemented, CRM will ensure “Ghanaians have 50% access to clean and environmental LPG and develop a market driven structure to ensure safety, increased access and adoption of LPG”.
There would also be existence of robust and standards Health, Safety and Environmental practices in the production, marketing and consumption of LPG as risk assessments have been made.
The CRM is expected to become fully operational after the establishment of bottling plants across the country.
According to the NPA, companies that have expressed interest in building bottling plants and have picked application forms are yet to return them, a reason the implementation has delayed.
Meanwhile, eight bottling plants with 250 metric tonne capacity each are needed to satisfy the consumption demands of Ghanaians and increase LPG penetration across the country.
