CRM: Blue Ocean Dispatches Cylinders To Exchange Points

The implementation of the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) has had an added impetus with the dispatch of cylinders to exchange points.

The company’s bottling plant at Tema with a capacity to fill liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) into 1,200 cylinders per hour dispatched the first batch of cylinders on June 7, 2024.

The receiving exchange points are Puma Retail Stations at East Legon, Madina, Nmai Dzorn, Kisseman, Agbogba, and Pantang.

Management of the company said more cylinders would be rolled out in the coming days within Accra and Kumasi.

It is envisaged 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.

In a related development, the chiefs and people of the Ashanti and Western North regions have expressed readiness to welcome the CRM, a flagship initiative of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), for the distribution of LPG especially for domestic use.

This follows months of intensive stakeholder engagements and public sensitisation on the CRM policy by officers of the NPA in these regions to increase awareness of the policy, explain the rationale for its introduction and more importantly, to get the buy-in of the people.

This week has seen officers of the Authority from the Corporate Affairs and Gas Directorates enhance their public engagements on the policy in the Western North Region visiting Sefwi Wiawso, Sefwi Bekwai, Bibiani, Anhwiaso and the greater Kumasi metropolis of the Ashanti Region.

These engagements were climaxed with a town hall meeting held at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi and chaired by Asonaba Boadu, Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Goil Dealers Association.

The meeting was graced by LPG dealers in these regions, reps of Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), traditional authorities, market women, youth groups and members of the public.

In a speech read on behalf of the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Oforikrom, Abraham Kwame Antwi, he commended the Authority for the CRM implementation and urged the public to embrace it. He expressed contentment that one of the four bottling plants set up for the policy is situated in the Ashanti Region.

Director for Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RME) at the NPA, Dr. Joseph Wilson, who delivered the keynote address on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, disclosed that the goal of the project was to achieve 50% LPG access to Ghanaians by 2030 as against the current 37%. The implementation of the CRM, he said, will improve safety in the distribution of LPG and bring it closer to the people.

Head of Gas at the NPA, Obed Kraine Boachie, gave a demonstration on the recirculation model, after which, he, together with other members of the team, took turns to answer questions from the participants and addressed their concerns regarding the policy.