EPA orders management of Kejetia Market to stop gas operations over leakage

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has directed Managers of the Kejetia Market to stop gas operations over leakage and also report detailed information on gas leakage at the area to the National Petroleum Authority NPA without any delay.

The visit follows complaints by traders at the market that there was a gas leakage in the facility.

The Ashanti Regional Director for EPA, Samuel Oteng, who led the team to inspect the gas system on Friday, March 26, 2021, said the gas was installed at the blank side of EPA.

Traders at the multi-million-dollar new Kejetia Market said they were sitting on a time bomb due to the constant gas leakages from a gas plant installed beneath the project.

The traders in an earlier interview with OTEC News' Kwame Agyenim Boateng said they feared for their lives as the situation could trigger a disaster at the slightest spark of any fire within and around the market.

Checks by OTEC News confirmed that a few meters away from the gas installation were shops and other structures where some trader’s light fires in coal pots and gas cookers for food and other routine businesses.

"We are not fully aware that there was a gas installation such as this and so we have directed managers of the market to take all necessary precautions before they could begin operating the gas station."

He noted that EPA will ensure that all safety measures are followed to prevent any disaster. Mr Samuel Oteng was accompanied by other officials from EPA and NADMO Officials.

The Ashanti Regional boss for the National Disaster Management Organization, Kwabena Nsenkyire who was part of the team said the leakage was a result of a faulty valve that has been changed.

He noted that they have already checked the leakage, adding that it has been solved.