The Ghana LPG Operators Association have called on government to institute safety measures in regulating their activities instead of taking them out of business.

According to the Association, almost all the major gas explosions recorded in the country occurred at the discharging points and not when filing cylinders at the stations.

Nicholas Issaka, the spokesperson for the Association, said the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) policy has been pushed by the Global LPG Partnership which has been lobbying governments in Africa since 2011.

‘The previous government has come trying to do CRM but they dropped it because some of the issues we raised.

Related: LPG operators declare strike over cylinder re-circulation

‘Somehow, this government says it wants to do it, but the implementation is a planned agenda,’ he told Joy News’ Patricia Gasu.

The implementation of the CRM was proposed by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to ensure that LPG filling points are sited out of densely populated areas and commercial centres. But the operators say, the policy is an already planned agenda by the NPA

At least seven people were confirmed dead, with 134 others injured following a gas leakage which led to a gas explosion at MANSCO Gas Filling Station at Atomic junction near Madina.  

The MANSCO Gas Filling Station at Atomic junction after the explosion

Government after the explosion decided to implement the cylinder re-circulation programme.

The plan is to stop LPG outlets from filling empty gas cylinders as part of measures to stop gas explosions.

Related: Atomic explosion: Gov’t rolls out regulatory measures; High-risk gas stations to be closed

LPG bottling plants are to be set up outside of residential and commercial areas for them to fill cylinders for sale at the retail outlets.

But the operators say they are not against government setting up bottling plants to sell already filled LPG cylinders to consumers but they should not be forced to be distributors or sale agents.

According to them, the policy will render about 7,000 people jobless.

Mr Issaka alleged that a day after the Atomic gas explosion [October 7, 2017] ‘even before government sets up an investigative committee, internal memos were being written to National Petroleum Authority (NPA) board to implement CRM.’

‘Five days after the explosion, there was a cabinet meeting and a new directive was given. What research was done within that time and what fact did they gather?’ he quizzed.

Related: Report on Atomic Junction gas explosion 90% complete – Fire Service

The Ghana LPG operators Association are questioning the rush in implementing CRM when they haven't come out with the report as to cause of an explosion.

Spokesperson for the Ghana LPG Operators Association said ‘we haven’t had explosions at stations because we have been filling cylinders. There have been explosions at home because of cylinders but the large explosions never happened because a cylinder was being filled.’