Petroleum tanker drivers declare nationwide strike

The Ghana National Petroleum Drivers Union and the Gas Tanker Drivers Union declared an indefinite sit-down industrial action nationwide yesterday.

It claimed that the strike was necessary due to the unmotorable nature of their roads from the GTP roundabout at Community 4 in Tema, in the Greater Accra Re­gion, linking the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) through a heavy industrial area to Kpone, capital of Kpone KatamansoDistrict.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghanaian Times yesterday, Mr Raymond Aflo, secretary of the Ghana National Petroleum Drivers Union stated that the strike will be effective until the government fixed the road.

“The road has become impass­able and creates a risk to our driv­ers, the road served eight terminal depots and over 3,500 tankers ply these routes to supply the country’s petroleum and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG).

“Vehicles including LPG trucks meander through huge potholes on this road,” he lamented.

“Last month a tanker loaded with petrol fell on its side and we had to call in the TOR emergency team, if it were an LPG truck that had this accident could we imagine the disaster it would have caused to the entire industrial enclave includ­ing TOR pipelines, the Asogli and Asaa power plants,” he stated.

MrAflo stated that there was a need for government to pay special attention to the said road due to its strategic and security nature.

He added that TOR and its human resource were significant to the nation’s development and can­not be toyed with at the expense of political expediency.

“It took a few months to con­struct roads, whenever there are by-elections in constituencies, why can’t government construct roads of strategic importance.”

He told the Ghanaian Times that there have been numerous appeals including letters and petitions to the Ministry of Roads and High­ways, including personal interac­tions with the sector minister, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah.

“In 2020, the government cut the sod for the reconstruction of the road, but till now nothing has hap­pened, we only received unfilled promises,” he stated.

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