The Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company (GCMC) will from next year start producing specially designed Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders for commercial drivers. The Chief Executive Officer of GCMC, Mrs. Betty Morny, told the Times that the decision was prompted by the increasing demand for automobile LPG Cylinders by commercial drivers. "It is also to stop the practice whereby tro-tro and commercial drivers improvise the domestic LPG cylinders for use in their vehicles," she stressed. The improvisation of the domestic LPG gas cylinders for vehicles, she warned, was very dangerous and could cause explosion because the domestic cylinders were not meant to be mobile. Mrs Morny said the production of the auto LPG gas cylinders would start early next year when the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) gave approval for its production adding that the GSB was currently developing the standard for the product. In view of the production of the auto gas cylinders, she said, the company intended-expanding its production lines. She further disclosed that the company intended going into the manufacture of fire extinguisher cylinders, to reduce the importation of the product so as to save the country some foreign exchange. "With the keen competition in the LPG gas cylinder industry, GCMC cannot continue to rely on its meager LPG gas cylinder production," she said. Mrs Morny said as leaders in the gas cylinder manufacturing industry, the GCMC was worried about the recent upsurge in gas explosions in the country, stressing that some of the explosions were as a result of ignorance. "As an industry leader, we will set the pace for education on the proper use of LPG gas cylinders and the manufacture of high quality and durable LPG gas cylinders," she stated. She said investigations into the Ashaiman incidence indicated that the gas cylinder involved was an imported used one. Mrs Morny advised the public to buy gas bottles (cylinders) from reliable and identifiable sources which could easily be contacted whenever there was a problem. The Production Manager for GCMC, Ezekiel Mensah, in a telephone interview advised tro-tro as well as commercial drivers to desist from using the domestic LPG gas cylinders for their vehicles explaining that the domestic cylinder was to be installed upright (vertically) and not horizontally, adding it was-also not to be installed in a vehicle. Mr Mensah said a cylinder in a vehicle could easily explode due to the agitation of the bottle through the movement of the vehicle. Source: Ghanaian Times