The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has embarked on an exercise to promote the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the Upper East Region.
The nationwide campaign, known as ‘Wo wϽ Gas,’ sensitized traders in the Bolgatanga market on the need to adopt LPG as an alternative source of fuel to the felling of trees for charcoal and firewood.
The NPA Communications Manager, Mr Mohammed Abdul-Kudus said the authority had observed that the Upper East Region is among 8 out of the 16 regions being the low-using areas of LPG and the rest of these regions, included North East, Upper West, Northern, Savannah, Bono, Ahafo, and Bono East regions, respectively.
Mr Abdul-Kudus said the ambitious campaign of the NPA is to have a 50 percent penetration of people using LPG by 2030 as an alternative source of fuel either for domestic or commercial purposes to reduce the threat to the environment.
“If we can get people to move away from firewood and charcoal use, we are going to reduce the incidence of respiratory related diseases and be able to do some work in our afforestation drive. The adage that says, ‘when the last tree dies, the last man dies’ is what we all trying to avoid,” he added.
Mr Abdul-Kudus while speaking to the media alluded to the fact that LPG may be expensive for rural folks to purchase, however “studies have shown that it is cheaper to use LPG than to use charcoal or firewood.” He stressed.
He said users of charcoal or firewood eventually may be risking their lives to diseases they could have avoided if they were using LPG.
He reaffirmed that the Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid had put a position paper before cabinet seeking to have some of the taxes or levies removed to have a further drop in the price of LPG.
Mrs Eunice Budu Nyarko, Consumer Services Manager of the National Petroleum Authority admonished the public to keep their gas cylinders away from the kitchen to avoid gas-related fires.
“The cylinders are supposed to be replaced after 10 years of use. Also, there should be regular changing of the cylinder hose. It should be changed every two years if it is used for domestic purposes and remember to change it every six months if it is used for commercial purposes”
The Upper East Regional Safety 2IC, ADO1 Bright Awonatey Akobanya entreated the public to turn off their cylinders when not in use. He added that the public can always check the cylinder with the usage of the foam solution to ensure that there are no leakages.
The NPA exercise, which was supported by Limehouse, an NGO, saw traders also from the Navrongo, Sandema, and Fumbisi markets sensitized on the safer use of LPG.
