The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers(COPEC) has blamed the sale of fuel laced with water at the Shell filling station at Atimpoku in the Eastern Region on the failure of regulators to ensure standards are met at retail outlets.
Managers of the Shell license in Ghana, VIVO Energy in a statement said the contamination of the fuel was due to heavy rains on Sunday, August 28, 2022.
But speaking to Starr News, the Executive Secretary of COPEC Duncan Amoah said it is not normal for storage thanks to be affected when it rains.
He stated that shutting down operation at the filling station is not enough, rather regulators must conduct a comprehensive audit at retail centres across the country to avert similar occurrences in the future.
“The incident involving the Shell filling station at Atimpoku is clearly a wake-up call on our regulators and the Ghana Standards Authority to be up and doing. What this says is that there are clearly a good number of stations that will need certain routine maintenance works carried out. It is not normal that any rainfall be it heavy or light water should get into the underground storage tanks and then get mixed up with fuel.
“We call on the NPA not to just go in there and shut but ensure that particular outlet and all other outlets in and across the country get a comprehensive audit assessment done to ensure that both tanks underground and the pumps dispensing the fuel are all up to the standards that the Ghana Standards Authority prescribes. It is indeed a wake-up call and we expect a lot more to be done than just shutting down that fuel station and that should be it,” Duncan Amoah added.
Source: Ghana/starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
