CRM ready as Blue Ocean dispatches cylinders to exchange points
The implementation of the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) has gained momentum with the dispatch of cylinders to exchange points.
The company’s bottling plant in Tema, with a capacity to fill liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) into 1,200 cylinders per hour, dispatched the first batch of cylinders on 7th June 2024.
The receiving exchange points are:
– Puma Retail Station at East Legon
– Puma Retail Station at Madina
– Puma Retail Station at Nmai Dzorn
– Puma Retail Station at Kisseman
– Puma Retail Station at Agbogba
– Puma Retail Station at Pantang
Management of the company stated that more cylinders would be rolled out in the coming days within Accra and Kumasi. The aim is to have 100 exchange centres by the end of this year.
“This is the first dispatch of cylinders from the Blue Ocean Bottling Plant since its construction in 2017 in Tema ahead of the implementation of CRM,” the management said.
Blue Ocean cylinders are blue for easy identification and traceability.
In a related development, the chiefs and people of the Ashanti and Western North Regions have expressed readiness to welcome the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM), a flagship initiative of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), for the distribution of liquefied petroleum gas, especially for domestic use.
This follows months of intensive stakeholder engagements and public sensitization on the CRM policy by NPA officers in these regions to increase awareness of the policy, explain the rationale for its introduction, and secure public buy-in.
This week, officers from the Corporate Affairs and Gas Directorates of the NPA enhanced their public engagements on the policy in Western North, visiting Sefwi Wiawso, Sefwi Bekwai, Bibiani, Anhwiawso, and the greater Kumasi metropolis of the Ashanti Region.
These engagements culminated in a town-hall meeting held at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi, chaired by Asonaba Boadu, Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Goil Dealers Association. The meeting was attended by LPG dealers, GPRTU representatives, traditional authorities, market women, youth groups, and members of the general public.
In a speech read on behalf of the Ashanti Regional Minister by the MCE for Oforikrom, Hon. Abraham Kwame Antwi commended the NPA for the CRM implementation and urged the general public to embrace it. He expressed satisfaction that one of the four bottling plants set up for the policy is situated in the Ashanti Region.
Dr. Joseph Wilson, Director for Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation (RME) at the NPA, delivered the keynote address on behalf of the Chief Executive, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid. He disclosed that the project’s goal is to achieve 50% LPG access for Ghanaians by 2030, up from the current 37%. He emphasized that the CRM implementation will improve safety in LPG distribution and bring it closer to the people.
Obed Kraine Boachie, Head of Gas at the NPA, provided a demonstration of the recirculation model. He and other team members then answered participants’ questions and addressed their concerns regarding the policy.
The NPA team included Dr. Joseph Wilson (Director, RME); Saed Ubeidallah (Head, Quality Control); Obed Boachie (Head, Gas-Commercial); Mrs. Betty Nana Adwoa Ofori (Ashanti Regional Manager, NPA); Mrs. Eunice Budu Nyarko (Head, Consumer Service); Abdul Kudus Mohammed (Head, Communications); and Aku Yuiah (Head, Regional Coordination).
