The implementation of the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) has had an added impetus with the dispatch of cylinders to exchange points by Blue Ocean.

The company's bottling  plant at Tema with a capacity to fill Liquifed Petroleum Gas (LPG) into 1,200 cylinders per hour dispatched the first batch of cylinders on June 7, 2024.

The receiving exchange points are Puma Retail Station at East Legon; Puma Retail Station at Madina; Puma Retail Station at Nmai Dzorn; Puma Retail Station at Kisseman; Puma Retail Station at Agbogba, and Puma Retail Station at Pantang.

Management of the company said that more cylinders would be rolled out in the coming days within Accra and Kumasi.

It is envisaged to have 100 exchange centres by the end of this year.

"This is the first dispatch of cylinders from the Blue Ocean Bottling Plant since its construction in 2017 in Tema ahead of the implementation of CRM', the Management said.

Blue Ocean cylinders have a blue colour for easy identification and traceability.

In a related development, the chiefs and people of the Ashanti and Western North Regions of the country have expressed readiness to welcome the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM), a flagship initiative of the National Petroleum Authority, for the distribution of liquified petroleum gas especially for domestic use.

This follows months of intensive stakeholder engagements and public sensitization on the CRM policy by officers of the NPA in these regions to increase awareness of the policy, explain the rationale for its introduction and more importantly, to get the buy-in of the people.

This week has seen officers of the Authority from the Corporate Affairs and Gas Directorates enhance their public engagements on the policy in the Western North visiting Sefwi Wiawso, Sefwi Bekwai, Bibiani, Anhwiawso and the greater Kumasi metropolis of the Ashanti Region.

These engagements were climaxed with a town-hall meeting held at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi and  chaired by Asonaba  Boadu, Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Goil Dealers Association. The meeting was graced by LPG dealers in these regions, reps of GPRTU, traditional authorities, market women, youth groups and members of the general public.

In a speech read on behalf of the Ashanti Regional Minister by the MCE for Oforikrom, Abraham Kwame Antwi, he commended the Authority for the CRM implementation and urged the general public to embrace it.

He expressed contentment that one of the four bottling plants set up for the policy is situated in the Ashanti Region.

Dr. Joseph Wilson, Director for Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RME) at the NPA, who delivered the key note address on behalf of the Chief Executive, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, disclosed that the goal of the project was to achieve 50% LPG access to Ghanaians by 2030 as against the current 37%.

The implementation of the CRM, he said, will improve safety in the distribution of LPG and bring it closer to the people.

On his part, Obed Kraine Boachie, Head of Gas at the NPA, gave a demonstration on the recirculation model, after which, he, together with other members of the team, took turn to answer questions from the participants and addressed all their concerns regarding the policy.

The NPA team included Dr. Joseph Wilson (director, RME); Saed Ubeidallah (Head, Quality Control); Obed Boachie (Head, Gas-Commercial); Mrs. Betty Nana Adwoa Ofori (Ashanti Regional Manager, NPA); Mrs Eunice Budu Nyarko (Head, Consumer Service); Abdul Kudus Mohammed (Head, Communications); and Aku Yuiah (Head, Regional Coordination)