The much-discussed Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) will be completely operational by the first quarter of 2023, according to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
The NPA claims that this is done to stop the operations of gas stations that are related to the gas explosion at Atomic Junction in the Greater Accra Region.
The Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) station at Atomic Junction in the Madina Constituency of the Greater Accra Region experienced a large-scale explosion on October 7, 2017, when a petrol truck discharging products at the state-owned Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) station caught fire.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPA, Dr Mustapha Hamid announced the phasing out of the gas filling stations at a press soiree held in Accra.
He said going forward, gas fillings stations will become exchange points where customers will have to exchange their cylinders for a filled one from the cylinder bottling plants.
“We are encouraging investors to venture into the cylinder bottling plant establishments in the county, particularly up north,” he said.
Dr Hamid said already GOIL is doing one in the Kumasi metropolis of the Ashanti Region and one at Tema in the Greater Accra Region.
He added that these two bottling plants will come on stream by the first quarter of next year for the full implementation of the CRM exercise.
He expressed worry over the delay in rolling out the CRM exercise all these years.
He revealed that four other companies have renewed their licences with the NPA to start the processes for the establishment of the bottling plants.