Techno Oil Limited and CAKASA
Nigeria Limited have signed a deal for the construction of an automated
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal.
The 12,000 metric tonnes capacity project, financed by Access Bank Plc is reputed as the largest of its type in West
Africa. The facility being built at the Kirikiri coastline at Apapa in Lagos is
expected to boost LPG storage holding in Nigeria.
Speaking at
a ceremony to sign an agreement for the project, the Managing Director of
Techno Gas and Power, Collins Onyeama,
said the project would be completed in November, 2017.
He said the
project would be handled by CAKASA in partnership with a leading European firm
that had handled similar facilities in Nigeria and other African countries. Onyeama
said that the Techno Oil Group is embarking on the project to boost the drive
by the Federal Government to increase the consumption of LPG, currently
standing at about 400,000 metric tonnes every year in Nigeria.
He said that
suitability approval for the construction of the plant had been granted by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR),
and that necessary environmental impact assessments had also been carried out.
He expressed optimism that the facility would be a game-changer in getting more
Nigerians and people in West Africa to embrace LPG for cleaner, safer and
healthier environment.
The Techno
Gas boss said the company’s LPG cylinder manufacturing plant being built in
Lagos had also been slated for inauguration in February next year. He said the
company would commence the installation of 50 units of digital LPG skids at
some filling stations next month to make more Nigerians to have easier access
to LPG plants.
Onyeama listed some challenges that had made it difficult for most Nigerians to embrace LPG, to including inadequate public awareness on safety, limited refilling plants and high cost of imported cylinders. He suggested that government should use the National Orientation Agency to drive the campaign to switch from firewood and kerosene to cooking gas.
He said: “This will reduce the phobia and improve public awareness
that LPG is clean, safe and affordable and also expose the danger inherent in
long use of firewood and kerosene.’’
He argued
that although the use of cooking gas had increased by about 36.8 per cent in
Nigeria in the past three years, over 90 per cent of households still relied on
kerosene, firewood and other unhealthy fossils for their energy sources.
(Guardian)
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