Civil society organisations have welcomed implementation of the cylinder recirculation model (CRM) being spearhead by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
The Executive Secretary-Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Mr. Duncan Amoah, and the Executive Director-Institute for Energy Security (IEA), Nana Amoasi VIi, said the NPA and its partners have done a lot of work to see to a seamless execution of the programme.
They were speaking in separate interviews after site visits to a cylinder-bottling plant at Tema, and a cylinder manufacturing company at the North Industrial Area in Accra on Wednesday.
The NPA announced commencement of the CRM’s implementation from September this year.
Under the model, residents of Accra and Kumasi will exchange empty cylinders for already-filled ones at cylinder exchange points. The customer will have to register with their national identification cards or any other form of identification.
The policy is expected to increase uptake of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) from the current 29 percent to at least 50 percent by 2030. It is also expected to improve safety in the distribution value chain.
The CRM has been piloted in some areas in the Eastern, Ashanti and Northern Eegions.
Mr. Amoah said about 94 percent of the infrastructure work has been completed.
He said the remaining six percent is about closing the loose-ends and ensuring additional safety standards.
“Quite a lot of work has been done. The Authority has not gone to sleep.
“All said and done, I believe the facility will go on well – looking at the structure in place,” he stressed.
On his part, Nana Amoasi VII said – given that most of the bottling plants are ready, the CRM is good to go.
He also said the GOIL bottling plant is in a good position to start operation.
Nana Amoasi VII however observed that though the bottling area is in the right shape, the conveyor belt is made of metal instead of rubber.
He urged the company to speed-up the facility’s test run to ensure smooth operations.
During her submission during an engagement with market traders in Accra, the Greater Accra Market Traders’ president, Ms. Mercy Naa Afrowa Nii Djan, described the CRM as a superb programme that will ensure safety in the distribution chain and also prevent cheating.
Besides, she said, the CRM is expected to create more jobs for the teeming youth within the distribution chain.
