Artificial gas shortage biting hard in Ashanti region

Many users of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), in the Ashanti region, are left stranded and frustrated in their search for the product on the open market following the strike action embarked upon by the Gas Tanker Drivers Association and their allies.

GBCNews’ scan of the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area found many gas users combing around looking for any sales outlet to refill their cylinders.

The first port of call was the Next Bon Gas distribution station near the Afua Kobi Market at Adum.

It was realized that the station had been closed and cordoned off with tape with no official or attendant at the post.

While GBCNews was around, a number of private and commercial vehicles and tricycles, also known as ‘Pragia’, with passengers hoping to get the LPG fuel to re-fill their cylinders from the station had to return disappointed.

The situation at the main Next Bon Gas station at Angloga Junction was no different, but the news team was prevented from taking shots of the atmosphere by the only person who was around as at 12:30 pm.

At the Global Gas distribution station at the Angloga-Asokwa New Road in the Asokwa Municipality, it had been closed to the public with nobody at post.

At the Kingdom Gas Station at Kaase, though they had some gas cylinders at the dispenser to be re-filled, the entrance to the entire premises had been closed with no staff found around to attend to prospective customers.

Some male adults had been lurking around hoping that they would be attended to, but to no avail.

GBCNews witnessed many people who had come there to buy gas, either by walking in or being chauffeured, but they all had to leave in disappointment.

Some of those who shared with GBCNews their frustration and disappointment in the situation expressed concern about the economic impact the problem is already having on them and why they could be compelled by the circumstance to return to the use of charcoal.

In such difficult situations of no LPG in the open market, the Kumasi GOIL Zonal Depot had come in handy to serve as the last hope.

However, this time around, when GBCNews got to the premises, it was realized that the depot has been closed down for about a year now, undergoing a major renovation ahead of the government’s planned Cylinder Re-circulation policy.

Unknown to most gas users, a number of them passed by hoping to access the fuel only to be met with a closed entrance to the premises.

The gas users appealed to the government to give attention to a swift and amicable resolution of whatever issue is agitating the tanker drivers so as to address the artificial shortage.

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