EPA to remove gas stations from residential areas (April 8, 2015) Front
The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) says it will, by the end of next year, remove all Liquefied Petroleum Gas
(LPG) stations in residential areas that fail to meet the guidelines for the
establishment of such business.
As part of the guidelines, the
operators of LPG stations are required to locate their stations on at least
half an acre of land.
In an interview with the Daily
Graphic in Accra yesterday, Mr Kwabena Badu-Yeboah, the Accra Regional Director
of the EPA, said all existing LPG stations located in residential areas which
did not meet those guidelines would be removed.
The guidelines for the siting of LPG
stations endorsed by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the EPA, the Ghana
Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the
Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), the Town and Country Planning Department
(TCPD) and the Factories Inspectorate Department require that the
stations renew their permits every 18 months.
That requirement, Mr Badu-Yeboah
explained, was one of the means by which the EPA could guarantee public safety.
Last Monday, two persons, including
a 70-year-old man, sustained severe burns when a gas tank in a car parked at a
filling station near the Wesley Grammar Senior High School at Dansoman in Accra
exploded.
Angry residents of Dansoman who
besieged the premises of the filling station immediately the incident occurred
forced the owner to close the station.
LPG
station earlier denied permit
Commenting on the Dansoman gas
explosion, Mr Badu-Yeboah said the station had initially been denied a permit
by the EPA but was given the green light to operate after its owner had gone to
court to fight the decision.
“We had a problem with that location
in 2005 when the proponent applied for a permit. Based on the assessment
done by the EPA in the area, we declined to give the permit because the station
would be opposite residential facilities,” he explained.
However, the owner appealed to the
then Minister of Environment and Science, Ms Christine Churcher, and in
accordance with Regulation 27 of the Environmental Assessment Regulation LI
1652 of 1999.
The regulation states: “A person
aggrieved by decision or action of the agency may submit a complaint in writing
to the minister. The complaint shall be submitted to the minister within 30
days of the complainant becoming aware of the decision or action to which the
complaint relates.”
Subsequently, the minister set up a
committee that recommended that the permit be granted but the EPA again refused
it, compelling the applicant to go to court.
The High Court, Mr Yeboah said,
ruled in favour of the applicant, adding, “For us at the EPA, we were not going
to give the permit but we were forced to give it because of the court action.”
The court’s decision, he said, had
been based on the recommendations of the committee set up by the minister.
Currently, he said, the station had
been shut down, while the vehicle that supplied the station with LPG was to be
moved out of the yard.
Foreseen
catastrophe
A Daily Graphic publication of
February 11, 2014 drew regulators’ attention to a growing public concern
over the siting of LPG and fuel stations in residential areas in Accra.
That was in the wake of a gas tanker
crash at Kwahu Fodua, near Nkawkaw, that killed eight people and injured more
than 20 others in January that year.
According to some residents of
Accra, it was about time the authorities concerned, including the EPA, the NPA
and the GNFS, took quick remedial actions before a major disaster occurred.
Even though there are guidelines
that regulate the siting of such services, violation of the regulations by fuel
and LPG station owners and some recalcitrant people who build so close to the
facilities has exposed the lives of the public to danger.
The practice is particularly
widespread in Accra and other regional capitals, where the stations are built
very close to homes, shops, churches, offices and even refuse dumps.
Dangerous
areas
On the Circle-Achimota road alone,
three LPG stations are located within communities and near fitting shops, houses
and chop bars.
Worrying
statistics
Reports in Daily Graphic archives
from 2007 to 2014 indicate that while 39 people died, 186 people sustained
various degrees of injury in 11 reported accidents involving LPG tankers, LPG
stations and domestic calamities.
Out of the 11 accidents, five
involved industrial settings — gas stations, fuel stations and a fuel dump —
while three were gas tanker crashes, with the remaining three being
domestic accidents.
This shows that more accidents were
recorded in industrial settings than domestic, the reason the public is calling
on the relevant state institutions to take a second look at the zoning of areas
for LPG and fuel stations.
By law, safety standards are a
requirement for the granting of permits to site gas filling stations but the
law has been flouted with impunity in many areas.
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