Minister Worried About Use of LPG Gas By Motorists

The Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, is worried about the increased use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in commercial vehicles especially taxi cabs, cargo trucks and mini buses, which had been identified as a contributory factor to the intermittent shortage of the product on the market. This, according to him, had made nonsense of government�s subsidy on the product which seeks to encourage domestic use in order to reduce dependence of firewood and charcoal. Speaking in an interview last week during the commissioning of a Gh�450,000 office complex for the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), he called for a national debate on the issue with the view to removing the subsidy on the product so that the extra funds can be used to import more crude oil or finished products. Dr Oteng-Adjei said his Ministry was studying the issue with the Ministry of Transport and hoped that the larger public will discuss it dispassionately in order to find an appropriate solution. Dr Oteng-Adjei also touched on efforts being made to reduce pollution by the Special Steels Limited which is reported to be affecting insulators at the substation in the Tema Heavy Industrial area. He said the Ministry was discussing with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and some partners on measures to reduce the effect of the pollution. He, however, called on the EPA to implement its rules to the letter to bring polluters to book. Mr Charles Darku, Chief Executive of GRIDCO, said the tour of the company was to pro-actively address the inadequacies in the grid system and simultaneously implement their expansion programmes. Mr Darku later conducted the Minister and his entourage round the office complex and the 330kw substation being built under the West Africa Power Pool projects.