As part of efforts to promote the usage of LPG in cooking to curb deforestation and some respiratory diseases resulting from the use of open-fire fuels, the Petroleum Ministry has assured Ghanaians that the distribution of gas to households will soon be done on a door-door basis to increase access to the fuel.

The minister, Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, mentioned this in an interview on the sideline of the ‘2015 Global Forum for clean cooking’. He said the initiative follows the distribution of 40,000 cylinders and stoves this year -- 20,000 of which have been distributed already to rural communities in the country to provide easy access to the fuel for users.

He said; “With the recirculation programmes that we are going to do, we are looking at a future when cylinders are not going to be for sale (at the initial investment stage); and we should be able to distribute LPG to households like the trash collectors do.

“With what we are looking at, there shouldn’t be any reason people would have to carry their cylinders in search of gas. That is why we are working to make sure there are refilling plants all over the country,” he added.

According to the minister, there will be private companies that people have to sign up with; to move around and pick up cylinders from homes to fill periodically.

The exercise also seeks to address occasional shortages that users of LPG are faced with; a situation the minister said is no more in existence, saying: “I think that is in the past, because we now have indigenous production of LPG from the Atuabo plant.

“Apart from supplying over 100 million cubic feet of gas to power thermal plants in Aboadze, The by-product of the Atuabo plant, the minister indicated, is already on course to produce an estimated 180,000 metric tonnes -- which is almost 50% of the country’s consumption, and indicates a future wherein the country can produce all of its LPG locally.

Addressing the safety-issue of LPG and cook-stoves for the rural folks, Mr. Armah Buah said the ministry dedicated this year’s Petroleum Week to educating people on the safe use of LPG and the dangers associated with its inappropriate use, stressing that: “We designate people in the districts where we launch the programmes to hold educational campaigns”.

In an interview with the B&FT, Chief Executive Officer CookClean Ghana Limited, Mr. Nicholas Manu, entreated all to use LPG so as to cut costs and protect the environment, saying: “There are three phases of this fight; one may see it from the perspective of the small user, but the contribution users would have been making by using LPG is very high in terms of personal, national, and global advantage”.