I will be proactive in preventing disasters in Tema — MCE

We will eliminate all situations that could lead to gas explosions in Tema, says the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Tema, Mr. Felix Mensah Nii Annan-La.

“In view of what has happened at Atomic Junction, the Tema Metropolitan Assembly is trying to be proactive to make sure such things don’t happen in Tema,” he said.

He was addressing a press conference organized by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) on mechanisms put in place by the TMA to protect Ghana’s industrial and maritime hub against possible gas explosions.

Mr. Annan-La said he had put a committee in place to assess the situation in Tema and advice the Assembly on the right strategies to prevent such disasters, adding that “this was in response to the plan by the Government of Ghana to resolve the recurrence of gas explosions in the country.”

He assured the President Nana Addo-Danquah Akufo-Addo that “we the people of TMA are going to move across the length and breadth of the Metropolis to ensure that people do the right things to avoid disasters.”

He said subsequent to the stake holders’ meeting that was held to assess the situation at the TMA, there was a visit to some selected gas and petrol filling stations in the Metropolis to have first hand information of their proceedings.

He said, “During the rounds we observed that all the tankers discharged their products into the tanks at the filling stations without the supervision of Fire Service Personnel.

“So it is something the committee is going to take into consideration together with other factors, and we will make sure that, as an Assembly, whatever the committee recommends, we will strictly adhere to,” he

pledged.

He said the TMA would allocate offices within its premises to some officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other related agencies “to make sure the Assembly monitor their activities, to see what permits they issue, etc.”

According to him, “The Assembly had been part of environmental management in the past but the system had been flexible so people could easily flout the law. But this time we will ensure that strict measures are taken for people follow standards.”

He asked the public not to be worried about the siting of filling stations across the Metropolis by saying that “the most important thing is to check whether they have stuck to standards in their operations, not whether they are close to other facilities or not.”

The committee, which was to present its work by Friday, the 20th of October 2017, was made up of persons from Fire Service, Bureau of National

Investigation (BNI), Ghana Police Service, National Security, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Tema Development Corporation (TDC), National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the Physical Planning Department of the TMA, the Technical Team of the TMA, Ghana Water Company, and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).