NPA undertakes public education on use of LPG in Ho

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) as part of efforts to whip-up the enthusiasm of people to patronize to use of LPG in their homes, has organized a town hall durbar in Ho to educate people on cylinder recirculation model.

The essence is for customers to appreciate the use of LPG and patronize it for safety at home.

The one-day programme brought together people from all walks of life, including traditional and religious leaders, market Queens, hairdressers, caterers, students and teachers among other groups who discussed issues relating to positive usage of LPG in their daily cooking activities.

Addressing the durbar, the Director in-charge of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at NPA, Dr. Joseph Wilson said promoting the use of LPG and getting access to it in Africa would go a long way to address challenges associated with the use of the product.

He stressed that this can only be achieved if appropriate policies and regulations are put in place, as it would attract the needed investors into the LPG market.

Dr. Wilson observed that one critical challenge confronting the LPG market in African countries is the insufficient infrastructural development, noting that facilities for storage, transportation and distribution are inadequate thereby making it stressful to meet the increasing demand for LPG in the system.

Another challenging issue the Director identified is malfunctioning of most refineries in the African continent. He explained that in Ghana, LPG is sourced from three main areas namely, local production from crude oil, raw gas and imports.

Dr. Wilson also said the demand for LPG recorded annual growth rate of 2 percent from 2015 to 2023. Adoption of LPG at household level increased over the years. From 2010 to 2015 the rates of adoption of LPG had increased by 5 percent points from 18 percent to 23 percent, adding that currently, the adoption of LPG is around 37 percent.

He said the use of wood and charcoal for cooking is high in both rural and urban areas, more than 53.3 percent households use wood and charcoal as their main source of cooking fuel although there is a considerable decline from 74 percent in 2010 which is still high.

According to Dr. Wilson, the reasons for low patronage for LPG in Ghana is due to challenges in the area of accessibility, affordability and availability of the product.

The main objective of the policy, Dr. Wilson noted, was to ensure that 50 percent of Ghanaian households have access to safe and environmentally friendly LPG for domestic, industrial and transport use by the year 2030 to meet the task the Ministry of Energy put on NPA to ensure smooth implementation of the policy.

The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa encouraged participants not to panic as they are to experience a new model of buying LPG, saying the exercise has been tried and tested by experts.

He said it would not help anybody who refuses to be part of the new model as it ensures easy distribution and access to gas cylinders at all times.

Source:onuaonline.com