Ensure proper siting of filling stations — Prof. Frimpong Boateng
The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, has urged regulatory bodies with oversight responsibility over the siting of filling stations in the country to work together to ensure proper siting of such facilities.
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He admonished them to resist the temptation to relax the laws for people in authority, especially politicians who want to put up filling stations at unauthorised places that pose danger to the public.
"It has been said that, most of the fuel stations and gas plants are owned by big people and politicians, but I will urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Petroleum Agency (NPA) and other regulatory bodies not to allow themselves be pressurised by these politicians.
"I will not do such a thing and I expect that the regulatory bodies will let all people who want to put up such facilities to go through the process in the interest of public safety," the minister stressed.
EPA Board
The minister was speaking at the inauguration of a 13-member board for the EPA in Accra yesterday.
The board is chaired by a mining expert, Mr Kwesi Enyam.
Four of the board members are nominees from the Presidency while the others are from the ministries of Education, Health, Finance, Local Government and Rural Development, and MESTI.
The rest are representatives of regulatory institutions such as the EPA, the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (SCIR), the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).
No mining permits
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng also charged the reconstituted board of the EPA to suspend the issuance of permits to small-scale miners as a measure to ensure a total clampdown of illegal mining and revamping of water and land resources that had been destroyed by the activities of the miners.
"There is a ban on small-scale mining but people continue to issue permits to such miners. I find this so embarrassing. We should tell people that we have stopped illegal mining so we cannot be giving them permits," he stressed.
He further asked the board members to take steps to check the operations of factories to ensure that their activities do not compromise the quality of air.
"There are many factories, especially within the Tema industrial enclave, where the air quality is so bad, so I will wish that the EPA is able to position itself well to do factory inspection to improve the air quality in the factory environment," the minister stated.
MMDAs
On the issue of siting of fuel and gas stations, the deputy minister of the MESTI, Mrs Patricia Appiagyei, called on metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to take keen interest in the processes leading to the siting of such facilities.
She said the MMDAs ought to collaborate with chiefs and the Town and Country Planning Department for proper zoning of their respective communities to guard against unauthorised siting of those facilities.
"We should not encroach on places that have been zoned for the siting of fuel and gas stations because if people put up businesses close to such plants, they are exposing members of the public to danger," she cautioned.
Assurance
The chairman of the reconstituted EPA board, Mr Kwesi Enyam, said members would work diligently to justify the confidence reposed in them by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He gave the assurance that the board would work in collaboration with the other regulatory bodies to address the various environmental challenges confronting the country.
