NPA holds town hall meeting on cylinder recirculation model in Ho
THE National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has said there is a need for more Ghanaians to embrace liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 7, which focuses on ensuring access to affordable clean energy.
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“This can only be achieved if we put in place the right policies and regulations necessary to attract investments into the LPG market,” said the NPA Director of Research, Dr Joseph Wilson.
Dr Wilson was speaking at a town hall meeting on the cylinder recirculation model (CRM) in Ho.
The event attracted a large number of people, signifying the interest in the issue.
Clean environment
Dr Wilson pointed out that household air pollution from the prolonged use of solid fuels contributed to environmental hazards, premature deaths and various health issues, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and lung cancer.
Furthermore, he said, harvesting of woody biomass for cooking had worsened deforestation crises in many countries, including Ghana, thereby exacerbating the impact of climate change.
Statistics, the NPA Director of Research said, had shown that LPG penetration was low in Ghana due to challenges such as availability, accessibility and affordability.
Dr Wilson explained that “although the LPG market had witnessed significant growth over the years, more than 54.3 per cent of households still used wood or charcoal as their main source of cooking fuel, while sustained progress towards adopting clean cooking fuels such as LPG remained critically slow in lower and middle-income countries.”
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The implementation of the CRM was, thus, expected to increase accessibility by bringing LPG closer to the consumers, Dr Wilson told the gathering.
“Unlike the current model, where substantial investment is required to put up LPG refilling plants, with CRM, there will be cylinder exchange points which are less expensive, and the cylinders will be checked regularly to ensure their safety.”
“This is very important because most consumers are not aware that their cylinders have a life span of 12-15 years, and would have to be checked every five years,” he added.
Regarding affordability, Dr Wilson gave an assurance that the NPA was engaging the government to remove some of the taxes and levies on LPG to address the issue.
Support
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, pledged the Regional Coordinating Council’s support to promote the use of LPG among the populace.
“We will definitely encourage the use of safe cooking methods in households to protect lives and property,” he affirmed.