GCMC to refurnish cylinders it has manufactured

Kumasi, July 19, GNA - The Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company Limited (GCMC) is embarking on the refurbishment of all cylinders manufactured by the company that are in use to check gas leakages. The programme, which has already started in Accra on a minor scale, will be extended to all the regions.

Nana Wiafe-Ababio, Chief Executive Officer of GCMC, made this known when he visited victims of the gas blast at North Patasi last Tuesday. They are on admission at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

They are Yaa Pokuaa, 26, her husband, Anthony Kwabena Poku, both tyre dealers and Barbara Dankwa, 25, a staff of the Consumer Credit Unit of SG-SSB Bank.

Two children of Poku and Pokuaa, aged one and three, died in the blast.

Nana Wiafe-Ababio expressed his condolences to the couple and family for the loss of their children and their entire property and presented 500,000 cedis to them.

He said the exercise was to ensure that all cylinders manufactured by the company were in good condition.

The Chief Executive Officer said it was not safe to use imported second hand gas cylinders, saying some of the imported cylinders were as old as 10 years, which was supposed to be the life span of gas cylinders.

He called for the periodic maintenance of cylinders and accessories.

Nana Wiafe-Ababio warned against the use of leaking cylinders to avoid the disaster that occurred at North Patasi and said it could have been avoided.

He said GCMC had signed an agreement with a Moroccan company to fully automate the company and this would involve the upgrading of the company's equipment and machinery. It would also supply the company with raw materials for three years.

The Chief Executive Officer said GCMC had a programme with the United Nations Development Programme to provide the rural population with cylinders to save the environment. 19 July, 04